Short Interest in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Increases By 32.8%

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,640,000 shares, a growth of 32.8% from the March 15th total of 2,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 633,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, Director Karin Eastham sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.65, for a total value of $216,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,125 shares of the company's stock, valued at $717,156.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,655,603 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $210,606,000 after buying an additional 62,011 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,118,211 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $195,822,000 after purchasing an additional 52,699 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,878,522 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $175,196,000 after purchasing an additional 273,342 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Veracyte by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,223,896 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $86,717,000 after acquiring an additional 79,565 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Veracyte by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,131,597 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $113,908,000 after acquiring an additional 17,566 shares during the period.

Veracyte Trading Down 2.4 %

Veracyte stock traded down $0.50 on Friday, reaching $20.23. 563,132 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 660,391. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of -19.64 and a beta of 1.62. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $30.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $22.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.04.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $98.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.49 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 20.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. Equities analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post -0.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VCYT has been the subject of a number of research reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Veracyte from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Veracyte from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.00.

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.