Commerce Bank Buys Shares of 14,761 Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Commerce Bank bought a new position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,761 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Veracyte by 21.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 71,095 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,894 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 159.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other Veracyte news, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $197,226.81. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $798,480.33. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total value of $6,919,116.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,077,559.28. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 162,492 shares of company stock valued at $8,151,197 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $44.29 on Thursday. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.25 and a fifty-two week high of $60.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 31.41 and a beta of 1.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.79.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The business’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VCYT shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Veracyte from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Veracyte from $66.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veracyte has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.33.

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.