Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Cuts Position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. cut its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,104,676 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 68,900 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 4.25% of Veracyte worth $85,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in Veracyte by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,655,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $210,606,000 after acquiring an additional 62,011 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Veracyte by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,065,512 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $157,773,000 after acquiring an additional 21,385 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Veracyte by 4.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,878,522 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $175,196,000 after buying an additional 273,342 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Veracyte by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,223,896 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,717,000 after buying an additional 79,565 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Veracyte by 0.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,131,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $113,908,000 after buying an additional 17,566 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, Director Karin Eastham sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.65, for a total transaction of $216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $717,156.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Veracyte from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Veracyte from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

Veracyte Trading Down 0.3 %

Veracyte stock opened at $18.86 on Thursday. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.73 and a 1-year high of $30.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.50 and a 200-day moving average of $24.01.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.03. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 20.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. The company had revenue of $98.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.49 million. On average, analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Veracyte 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.