First Horizon Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 12.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 353 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $88,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 2,331.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Veracyte by 168.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Veracyte in the second quarter worth $58,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at about $83,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the second quarter valued at about $85,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Veracyte from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. 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.com, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $182,244.79. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,903.89. The trade was a 13.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total transaction of $163,164.62. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veracyte Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VCYT opened at $39.59 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.30. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.61 and a 12 month high of $41.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of -263.93 and a beta of 1.67.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. Veracyte’s revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.03) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

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.