Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Needham & Company LLC Analyst Says

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.53% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Veracyte in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Veracyte Stock Up 3.8 %

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $46.14 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.21. Veracyte has a 12-month low of $18.61 and a 12-month high of $47.32. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -307.60 and a beta of 1.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly 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. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 3.02% and a negative net margin of 2.18%. The business had revenue of $115.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.03) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Veracyte will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In related news, Director Karin Eastham sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.30, for a total transaction of $403,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $745,429.10. This trade represents a 35.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 5,032 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total value of $215,822.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 42,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,804.57. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,038 shares of company stock worth $1,008,297. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VCYT. Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in Veracyte by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,909 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 123,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 116.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 833,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,017,000 after purchasing an additional 448,251 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,433 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in Veracyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $262,000.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc engages in the research, development and commercialization of diagnostic products. The firm’s portfolio includes Afirma, Percepta, and Envisia. It intends to treat thyroid cancer, improve lung cancer screening, and clarify the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The company was founded by Bonnie H.