Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 24.26% from the company’s current price.

VCYT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Leerink Partners boosted 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Veracyte currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.25.

Veracyte Trading Up 2.9 %

Veracyte stock traded up $1.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $36.97. 72,381 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 768,246. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -242.47 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.71. Veracyte has a fifty-two week low of $18.61 and a fifty-two week high of $41.43.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $115.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 28.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.03) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $182,244.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,903.89. The trade was a 13.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 76,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,279,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $26,907,000 after purchasing an additional 500,020 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,115,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,726,000 after buying an additional 353,000 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 288.6% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 360,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,284,000 after buying an additional 268,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,384,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $163,649,000 after buying an additional 266,660 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.