Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Purchases New Position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 279,032 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $9,498,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.36% of Veracyte as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 13.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,677 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,462 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,778 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Veracyte by 3.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,806 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in 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 last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other news, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 5,032 shares of Veracyte 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,814,804.57. This trade represents a 10.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were 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 directly owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,903.89. The trade was a 13.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,211 shares of company stock worth $787,542. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down from $38.00) on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on Veracyte in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.13.

Veracyte Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Veracyte stock traded down $1.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $42.24. The stock had a trading volume of 726,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,880. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -281.67 and a beta of 1.69. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.61 and a 52 week high of $46.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.77.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 3.02% and a negative net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. The business's revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Veracyte

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.