Victory Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,112 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.11% of Veracyte worth $2,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VCYT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Veracyte by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,384,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $163,649,000 after purchasing an additional 266,660 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Veracyte by 67.4% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,241,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $26,907,000 after purchasing an additional 500,020 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Veracyte by 2.1% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 934,994 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,261,000 after purchasing an additional 19,244 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in Veracyte by 1.2% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 625,536 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,555,000 after purchasing an additional 7,219 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at $12,279,000.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In related news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total transaction of $163,164.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 76,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the company’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 directly owns 34,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,903.89. This represents a 13.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCYT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Scotiabank lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted 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. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Veracyte Stock Up 1.7 %

VCYT stock opened at $39.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -263.93 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.25. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.61 and a 52 week high of $41.43.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.81 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.03) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect 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.