BNP Paribas Financial Markets Boosts Stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 438.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 98,422 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80,145 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Veracyte were worth $3,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VCYT. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Veracyte in the 2nd quarter worth $12,279,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Veracyte by 67.4% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,241,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,907,000 after buying an additional 500,020 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Veracyte by 288.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 360,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,284,000 after buying an additional 268,000 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in Veracyte by 411.1% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 201,697 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,866,000 after buying an additional 162,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Veracyte in the 3rd quarter worth $4,681,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VCYT. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.13.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other news, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.36, for a total transaction of $41,452.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,746,107.20. This trade represents a 2.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $182,244.79. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,343 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,211 shares of company stock valued at $787,542. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $42.84 on Friday. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.61 and a 12 month high of $44.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.56. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -285.60 and a beta of 1.69.

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