Jennison Associates LLC Sells 15,581 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Jennison Associates LLC cut its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 385,503 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 15,581 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.50% of Veracyte worth $13,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Veracyte by 13.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,462 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,778 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Veracyte by 6.9% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 8,198 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Veracyte by 3.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCYT has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Veracyte from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Leerink Partners increased their target price on Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.25.

Veracyte Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of VCYT opened at $39.59 on Friday. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.61 and a 12 month high of $41.43. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -263.93 and a beta of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.75 and a 200 day moving average of $28.12.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. The company’s revenue was up 28.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.03) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veracyte news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total transaction of $163,164.62. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,903.89. This represents a 13.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Company Profile

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.