Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating on Veracyte and set a $48 price target, implying about 7.9% upside from the current price.
• Veracyte’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $0.52 versus a $0.34 estimate and revenue of $139.07 million, up 21.5% year over year.
• Despite the positive analyst view, recent insider activity included stock sales by Director Robert S. Epstein and CEO Marc Stapley, while the broader analyst consensus remains Hold with an average price target of $44.83.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $48.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price points to a potential upside of 7.89% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT stock opened at $44.49 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.82 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.72. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $22.61 and a 52 week high of $50.71.

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

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other news, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total value of $440,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,446 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,148.46. This represents a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Marc Stapley sold 45,523 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.97, for a total transaction of $1,637,462.31. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 357,554 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,861,217.38. This represents a 11.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 119,986 shares of company stock valued at $4,649,957. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 159.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Veracyte by 289.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Veracyte by 146.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares during the last quarter.

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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