Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Acquires 9,148 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. lifted its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 100.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,213 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,148 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Veracyte by 11.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,224 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 2.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 476,686 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,354,000 after buying an additional 11,302 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 19.1% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 63,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,045,000 after buying an additional 10,174 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 10,285.2% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 52,549 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 52,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,216,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veracyte news, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total value of $440,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 52,446 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,148.46. This represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction of $6,919,116.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,077,559.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold a total of 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058 over the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veracyte Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $59.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.25 and a beta of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.41. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.61 and a 52 week high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

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.