State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 28,882 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 24.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 89,459 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 28,882 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.12% of Veracyte worth $1,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,697,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,779,000 after purchasing an additional 509,340 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,190,000. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 46.3% in the 1st quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,115,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,726,000 after acquiring an additional 353,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Veracyte by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,384,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $163,649,000 after acquiring an additional 266,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Veracyte by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,347,436 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $74,179,000 after acquiring an additional 242,760 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Veracyte from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veracyte currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.25.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $34.83 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $28.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.05 and a beta of 1.66. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.61 and a 52 week high of $35.51.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $114.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.27 million. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 1.52% and a negative net margin of 13.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In related news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 1,032 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.03, for a total value of $30,990.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 46,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,393,782.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 1,032 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.03, for a total transaction of $30,990.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,393,782.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Karin Eastham sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $187,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,700. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,745 shares of company stock worth $1,217,296 in the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.