Fisher Asset Management LLC Sells 22,280 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 733,036 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 22,280 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $25,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VCYT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,504,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $291,945,000 after purchasing an additional 403,737 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Veracyte by 16.6% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,028,000 after buying an additional 1,048,692 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,169,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,677,000 after buying an additional 11,461 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Veracyte by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,078,000 after acquiring an additional 360,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,071,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,974,000 after acquiring an additional 28,431 shares during the period.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $35.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.27 and a beta of 1.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.55 and its 200 day moving average is $38.03. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $140.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.79 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 8.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Leite sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.51, for a total value of $60,717.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 82,113 shares in the company, valued at $3,901,188.63. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Karin Eastham sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $909,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $616,029.30. The trade was a 59.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,385 shares of company stock worth $2,483,179 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.