Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) PT Lowered to $28.00

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its price target decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Veracyte Trading Down 4.3 %

VCYT stock opened at $19.37 on Monday. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $19.12 and a 52 week high of $30.52. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.81 and a beta of 1.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $22.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.06.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $98.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.49 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 20.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Veracyte will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, Director Karin Eastham sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.65, for a total transaction of $216,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $717,156.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VCYT. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veracyte by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,655,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $210,606,000 after acquiring an additional 62,011 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the third quarter worth $506,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Veracyte by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 14,810 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in Veracyte by 55.5% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 166,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,723,000 after purchasing an additional 59,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Veracyte by 96.2% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,862 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 913 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.