Point72 Asset Management L.P. Buys Shares of 566,634 Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 566,634 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,279,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned 0.74% of Veracyte at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,329 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 168.3% during 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. acquired a new stake in Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Veracyte in the second quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter worth $85,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCYT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Veracyte from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.25.

Veracyte Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $34.04 on Tuesday. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.61 and a fifty-two week high of $35.51. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.21 and a beta of 1.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.26.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $114.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.27 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 13.52% and a positive return on equity of 1.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, insider John Leite sold 1,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $31,925.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 82,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,074,200. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, 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 owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 1,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $31,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,074,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,918 shares of company stock valued at $1,399,541 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veracyte Profile

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.