OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) Trading Up 1.4% – Should You Buy?

OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX)’s stock price shot up 1.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $2.18 and last traded at $2.16. 20,808 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 48,844 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on OncoCyte in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.25 price target on shares of OncoCyte in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

OncoCyte Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $2.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.74.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.54). OncoCyte had a negative return on equity of 269.32% and a negative net margin of 6,122.29%. The business had revenue of $0.12 million for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.57) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that OncoCyte Co. will post -2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith acquired 90,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.13 per share, with a total value of $192,166.47. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 1,773,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,778,413.39. This represents a 5.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Andrew Arno bought 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.11 per share, with a total value of $26,375.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 81,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $172,078.94. The trade was a 18.10 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders bought 133,183 shares of company stock worth $285,771. 1.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of OncoCyte

An institutional investor recently raised its position in OncoCyte stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) by 12.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,980 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.62% of OncoCyte worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 55.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

OncoCyte Company Profile

OncoCyte Corporation, a precision diagnostics company, focuses on development and commercialization of proprietary tests in the United States and internationally. The company is developing DetermaIO, a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies; DetermaCNI, a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients; and VitaGraft, a blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test.