Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Shares Down 5.7% – Time to Sell?

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)’s stock price traded down 5.7% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $46.38 and last traded at $45.7950. 720,563 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 1,126,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Veracyte from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.78.

Veracyte Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. Veracyte had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Veracyte’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Annie Mcguire sold 3,254 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $140,214.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 131,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,651,684.40. This represents a 2.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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. Also, Director Jens Holstein sold 5,000 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.95, for a total value of $204,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,124,937.45. This trade represents a 15.40% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,895 shares of company stock valued at $1,307,448. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Veracyte in the second quarter worth $792,058,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at $84,078,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at $64,737,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,398,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Veracyte by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $68,190,000 after buying an additional 833,543 shares during the period.

Veracyte Company Profile

Veracyte, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes genomic tests designed to help physicians diagnose cancer, assess disease risk and guide treatment decisions. The company combines genomic data with bioinformatics and machine-learning technologies to provide clinically actionable information from patient tissue samples.

Veracyte’s portfolio includes Afirma tests for evaluating thyroid nodules, Decipher tests for assessing the risk and biological characteristics of prostate cancer, and Prosigna for classifying and evaluating recurrence risk in certain breast cancers.