OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) Coverage Initiated at Lake Street Capital

Research analysts at Lake Street Capital began coverage on shares of OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. Lake Street Capital’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 55.28% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on OCX. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.25 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on OncoCyte in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, OncoCyte currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.56.

OncoCyte Stock Performance

Shares of OCX opened at $3.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.73. OncoCyte has a one year low of $1.92 and a one year high of $4.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.73 and a beta of 0.79.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.88. The business had revenue of $1.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.16 million. OncoCyte had a negative net margin of 6,122.29% and a negative return on equity of 269.32%. On average, analysts predict that OncoCyte will post -2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at OncoCyte

In related news, CFO Andrea S. James purchased 97,561 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.05 per share, for a total transaction of $200,000.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 151,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,023.55. The trade was a 181.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith acquired 1,077,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $2.05 per share, for a total transaction of $2,209,080.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 2,872,671 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,888,975.55. The trade was a 60.03 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,185,625 shares of company stock worth $2,430,510. Insiders own 1.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of OncoCyte

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in OncoCyte during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in OncoCyte during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of OncoCyte by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 6,481 shares during the last quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OncoCyte during the 4th quarter worth about $126,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in OncoCyte by 12.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 11,289 shares during the last quarter. 55.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OncoCyte Company Profile

OncoCyte Corporation, a precision diagnostics company, focuses on development and commercialization of proprietary tests in the United States and internationally. The company is developing DetermaIO, a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies; DetermaCNI, a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients; and VitaGraft, a blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test.