Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its Veracyte stake by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 94,696 shares and leaving it with 690,757 shares valued at about $29.1 million.
• Veracyte reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.52 versus the $0.34 estimate and revenue of $139.07 million, up 21.5% year over year.
• Insider selling continued, including director Robert S. Epstein and SVP Annie McGuire, while analysts remain mixed with a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $44.83.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT - Free Report) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 690,757 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 94,696 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.87% of Veracyte worth $29,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 667.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,761 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,960,000 after acquiring an additional 379,014 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $253,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,692 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,324,965 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $45,486,000 after acquiring an additional 253,033 shares during the period. Westview Management dba Westview Investment Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at $1,376,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,384,000.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total transaction of $440,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,308,148.46. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,204 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total value of $398,160.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 143,708 shares in the company, valued at $5,607,486.16. This trade represents a 6.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 119,986 shares of company stock worth $4,649,957 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $46.34 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $36.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.51 and a beta of 1.89. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.61 and a fifty-two week high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $139.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VCYT has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Veracyte from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $44.83.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a genomic diagnostics company focused on improving diagnostic accuracy and patient care through advanced molecular testing. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company develops and commercializes minimally invasive genomic tests that aid in the diagnosis of thyroid, lung and other diseases. Veracyte's proprietary platform analyzes gene expression patterns in clinical samples to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions, reducing unnecessary surgeries and improving patient outcomes.

The company's flagship product, the Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier, is designed to assess thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology, helping clinicians distinguish benign from suspicious nodules.

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