Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.93 and last traded at $41.89, with a volume of 176589 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCYT has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Veracyte from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Veracyte Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of -285.93 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.75.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 3.02% and a negative net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $115.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.03) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 28.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total transaction of $163,164.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 76,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $182,244.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,903.89. This trade represents a 13.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VCYT. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 22,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 3,195 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Veracyte in the third quarter worth about $820,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Veracyte by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,844,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,806,000 after acquiring an additional 17,921 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Veracyte by 20.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,261 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,223 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 146,402 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,983,000 after purchasing an additional 85,033 shares during the last quarter.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc operates as a diagnostics company in the United States and internationally. The company offers Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier for cancerous thyroid nodules; Decipher Prostate Biopsy and Radical Prostatectomy for prostate cancer diagnosis; Prosigna Breast Cancer Assay for breast cancer diagnosis; Percepta Nasal Swab Test for lung cancer diagnosis; and Envisia Genomic Classifier for diagnosing interstitial lung disease, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.