Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Given New $28.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

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

VCYT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Veracyte Price Performance

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $38.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of -261.33 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.58 and a 200 day moving average of $28.04. Veracyte has a 1 year low of $18.61 and a 1 year high of $41.43.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Veracyte will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In related 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 in the company, valued at $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was 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 owns 34,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,903.89. This trade represents a 13.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 2,331.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 168.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at about $58,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at about $83,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at about $85,000.

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.