Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Hold”

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

VCYT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.14.

Veracyte Stock Up 3.9%

VCYT stock opened at $32.13 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.11. Veracyte has a 52-week low of $22.61 and a 52-week high of $50.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71 and a beta of 1.91.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Leite sold 5,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.19, for a total transaction of $185,099.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,580 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,740.20. The trade was a 4.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $463,173.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,922,488.80. The trade was a 13.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 86,521 shares of company stock valued at $3,185,270. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VCYT. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 159.8% in the 4th 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. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 289.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the last quarter.

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.