Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Reduces Stock Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC cut its holdings in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,944 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 21,490 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC owned about 0.14% of Veracyte worth $4,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,504,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $291,945,000 after acquiring an additional 403,737 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Veracyte by 16.6% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,692 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Veracyte by 17.5% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,465,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $153,310,000 after purchasing an additional 665,686 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Veracyte by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,169,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $85,677,000 after purchasing an additional 11,461 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,118,166 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $107,042,000 after purchasing an additional 95,664 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.20.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $30.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 36.67 and a beta of 1.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.34. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.12. Veracyte had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 12.83%.The firm had revenue of $140.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 6,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.55, for a total transaction of $236,691.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 94,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,798.30. The trade was a 6.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.19, for a total transaction of $185,099.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 107,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,740.20. The trade was a 4.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 75,782 shares of company stock worth $2,722,097. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.