Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Takes $608,000 Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund bought a new position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 74.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the third quarter worth about $107,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter worth about $206,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Veracyte from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Karin Eastham sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $909,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $616,029.30. This trade represents a 59.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 13,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $621,941.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,496 shares in the company, valued at $5,128,792.64. This trade represents a 10.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,635 shares of company stock valued at $5,981,961. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $41.57 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 109.40 and a beta of 1.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $43.37 and its 200 day moving average is $35.39. Veracyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.61 and a twelve month high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.19. Veracyte had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 6.12%.The business had revenue of $131.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Veracyte Company Profile

Veracyte, Inc is a genomic diagnostics company focused on improving diagnostic accuracy and patient care through advanced molecular testing. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company develops and commercializes minimally invasive genomic tests that aid in the diagnosis of thyroid, lung and other diseases. Veracyte’s proprietary platform analyzes gene expression patterns in clinical samples to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions, reducing unnecessary surgeries and improving patient outcomes.

The company’s flagship product, the Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier, is designed to assess thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology, helping clinicians distinguish benign from suspicious nodules.