Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Short Interest Update

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, a growth of 22.5% from the March 31st total of 4,170,000 shares. Currently, 6.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 956,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Veracyte by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,211,612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $325,180,000 after acquiring an additional 463,098 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in Veracyte by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,599,264 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $261,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,432 shares during the last quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in Veracyte by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 3,080,027 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $121,969,000 after purchasing an additional 97,824 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,194,392 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,298,000 after purchasing an additional 8,797 shares during the period. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Veracyte by 226.8% in the 4th quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,183,766 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,877,000 after buying an additional 821,554 shares during the period.

Veracyte Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $30.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -202.33 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.22. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $19.73 and a 52 week high of $47.32.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The biotechnology company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $118.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.73 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.39) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Veracyte will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VCYT. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Veracyte from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Craig Hallum began coverage on Veracyte in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veracyte presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.60.

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.