William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases 112,516 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management increased its stake in Veracyte by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 112,516 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 790,425 shares worth about $33.3 million.
• Veracyte reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.52 versus estimates of $0.34 and revenue of $139.07 million, up 21.5% from a year ago.
• Analysts remain mixed on the stock: the consensus rating is Hold with an average price target of $44.83, while insider selling over the past three months totaled 95,986 shares.

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 790,425 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 112,516 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.00% of Veracyte worth $33,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Veracyte by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 28,506 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC raised its stake in Veracyte by 49.7% during the fourth quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 34,667 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,459,000 after acquiring an additional 11,505 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Veracyte by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,743 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Veracyte by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 20,873 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VCYT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Veracyte from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Veracyte from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veracyte has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

Veracyte Price Performance

Veracyte stock opened at $45.03 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.90 and a 200-day moving average of $38.65. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.31 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,204 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total value of $398,160.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 143,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,607,486.16. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,260 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.19, for a total value of $185,099.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,785,740.20. This represents a 4.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 95,986 shares of company stock valued at $3,560,357 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Veracyte Company Profile

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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