Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $50.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on VCYT. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Veracyte from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Veracyte Price Performance

NASDAQ:VCYT traded down $1.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.94. The stock had a trading volume of 1,626,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 782,741. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $18.61 and a twelve month high of $41.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.50.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. The firm had revenue of $115.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.03) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Veracyte will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total value of $163,164.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 76,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $182,244.79. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,903.89. This trade represents a 13.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Veracyte by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,384,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $163,649,000 after buying an additional 266,660 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Veracyte by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,916,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $99,278,000 after buying an additional 7,920 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Veracyte by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,697,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,779,000 after purchasing an additional 509,340 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,844,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,806,000 after buying an additional 17,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,241,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,907,000 after acquiring an additional 500,020 shares in the last quarter.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc operates as a diagnostics company in the United States and internationally. The company offers Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier for cancerous thyroid nodules; Decipher Prostate Biopsy and Radical Prostatectomy for prostate cancer diagnosis; Prosigna Breast Cancer Assay for breast cancer diagnosis; Percepta Nasal Swab Test for lung cancer diagnosis; and Envisia Genomic Classifier for diagnosing interstitial lung disease, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.