Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Veracyte, with six buy, two strong-buy, two hold and one sell rating. The average 12-month price target is $54.33, above the reported share price of $42.31.
• Veracyte exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.54 in EPS versus the $0.41 consensus estimate and $150.32 million in revenue, up 15.5% year over year.
• Insiders sold 162,492 shares worth approximately $8.15 million during the last quarter, while major institutions including BlackRock and William Blair established sizable new positions.

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.3333.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VCYT shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Veracyte from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total value of $6,919,116.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares in the company, valued at $22,077,559.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 3,561 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.73, for a total transaction of $177,088.53. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 173,280 shares in the company, valued at $8,617,214.40. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 162,492 shares of company stock worth $8,151,197. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at $792,058,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at about $84,078,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth about $58,158,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter worth about $64,737,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Veracyte in the second quarter worth about $50,398,000.

Veracyte Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ VCYT opened at $42.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.61. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 30.01 and a beta of 1.95. Veracyte has a 12-month low of $28.25 and a 12-month high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The firm 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%.The firm's revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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