The Goldman Sachs Group Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $37.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $38.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 16.16% from the stock’s previous close.

VCYT has been the topic of several other research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Leerink Partners raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.13.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $44.13 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $36.71 and its 200-day moving average is $29.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -294.20 and a beta of 1.69. Veracyte has a 12-month low of $18.61 and a 12-month high of $46.00.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $115.86 million for 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 business’s revenue was up 28.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.23, for a total transaction of $302,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 114,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,929,819.51. This trade represents a 5.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the director now owns 34,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,903.89. This represents a 13.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,211 shares of company stock worth $787,542. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KBC Group NV raised its position in Veracyte by 13.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in Veracyte by 2.1% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,462 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Veracyte by 21.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,778 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Veracyte by 3.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Veracyte by 168.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares in the last quarter.

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.