Marc Stapley Sells 45,523 Shares of Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) CEO Marc Stapley sold 45,523 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.97, for a total value of $1,637,462.31. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 357,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,861,217.38. The trade was a 11.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of Veracyte stock traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.85. 964,111 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 868,062. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78 and a beta of 1.91. Veracyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.61 and a twelve month high of $50.71. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.00.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VCYT. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research raised shares of Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at $274,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Veracyte by 229.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,280 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 7,156 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at $5,475,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at $58,158,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000.

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.