StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX)

Stock analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) in a note issued to investors on Monday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the stock.

Separately, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $4.25 price target on shares of OncoCyte in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

OncoCyte Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCX opened at $2.15 on Monday. OncoCyte has a 1 year low of $1.97 and a 1 year high of $3.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.86.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.54). OncoCyte had a negative net margin of 6,122.29% and a negative return on equity of 269.32%. The company had revenue of $0.12 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.57) EPS. On average, analysts expect that OncoCyte will post -2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at OncoCyte

In other news, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith purchased 90,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.13 per share, for a total transaction of $192,166.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,773,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,778,413.39. This trade represents a 5.36 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Andrew Arno acquired 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.11 per share, with a total value of $26,375.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 81,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $172,078.94. This represents a 18.10 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 122,719 shares of company stock worth $264,341 over the last quarter. 1.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in OncoCyte stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) by 12.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,980 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,289 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 0.62% of OncoCyte worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 55.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OncoCyte Company Profile

OncoCyte Corporation, a precision diagnostics company, focuses on development and commercialization of proprietary tests in the United States and internationally. The company is developing DetermaIO, a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies; DetermaCNI, a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients; and VitaGraft, a blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test.