Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 5,821 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 2,188.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,087 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,821 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VCYT. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,279,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 67.4% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,241,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,907,000 after purchasing an additional 500,020 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Veracyte by 288.6% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 360,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,284,000 after purchasing an additional 268,000 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in Veracyte by 411.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 201,697 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,866,000 after purchasing an additional 162,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Veracyte during the third quarter worth about $4,681,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total value of $163,164.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 76,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,268,461.72. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 5,032 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total value of $215,822.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 42,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,804.57. The trade was a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,684 shares of company stock worth $561,232 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Veracyte from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Veracyte in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.25.

Veracyte Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $42.95 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -286.33 and a beta of 1.67. Veracyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.61 and a twelve month high of $44.16. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.70 and its 200 day moving average is $29.07.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 3.02% and a negative net margin of 2.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.03) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.