Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock Price

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partners increased their target price on Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Veracyte Stock Up 2.1 %

VCYT stock opened at $36.71 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.06 and a 200-day moving average of $27.71. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -244.73 and a beta of 1.67. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $18.61 and a twelve month high of $41.43.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. The company had revenue of $115.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 28.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 76,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VCYT. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $820,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,844,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $62,806,000 after purchasing an additional 17,921 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 20.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 61,261 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,223 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 138.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 146,402 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,983,000 after purchasing an additional 85,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Veracyte in the third quarter valued at $1,640,000.

Veracyte Company 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.