Values First Advisors Inc. Takes $91,000 Position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,118,211 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $195,822,000 after acquiring an additional 52,699 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veracyte by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,323 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in Veracyte by 54.4% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,860 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 8,050 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 9.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,347,436 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $74,179,000 after buying an additional 242,760 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VCYT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Veracyte from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Veracyte in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total value of $182,244.79. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,903.89. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Veracyte news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total value of $182,244.79. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,903.89. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total value of $163,164.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 76,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,268,461.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,141 shares of company stock valued at $1,180,116. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veracyte Price Performance

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $33.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.14 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.90. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.61 and a 1 year high of $35.51.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.10. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 1.52% and a negative net margin of 13.52%. The business had revenue of $114.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Veracyte Profile

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.