Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Veracyte “Moderate Buy,” with six buy, two strong-buy, two hold, and one sell rating. The average 12-month price target is $55.78, above the stock’s $40.14 opening price.
• Veracyte’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $0.54 versus $0.41 forecast and revenue of $150.32 million versus $144.59 million expected; revenue increased 15.5% year over year.
• Insiders sold 25,609 shares worth approximately $1.14 million over the past three months, including sales by an insider and the CFO under pre-arranged trading plans to cover tax obligations.

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.7778.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veracyte from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Veracyte from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $66.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other news, insider Phillip Febbo sold 13,110 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.05, for a total value of $564,385.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,727,716.40. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,652 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.10, for a total value of $157,401.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 166,025 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,155,677.50. This represents a 2.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,609 shares of company stock worth $1,139,324. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Veracyte during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in Veracyte in the second quarter worth about $50,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Veracyte in the second quarter valued at about $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Veracyte by 21.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000.

Veracyte Stock Down 2.6%

VCYT stock opened at $40.14 on Wednesday. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $29.45 and a twelve month high of $60.91. The stock's 50 day moving average is $48.36 and its 200-day moving average is $43.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.Veracyte's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes genomic tests designed to help physicians diagnose cancer, assess disease risk and guide treatment decisions. The company combines genomic data with bioinformatics and machine-learning technologies to provide clinically actionable information from patient tissue samples.

Veracyte's portfolio includes Afirma tests for evaluating thyroid nodules, Decipher tests for assessing the risk and biological characteristics of prostate cancer, and Prosigna for classifying and evaluating recurrence risk in certain breast cancers.

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