Champlain Investment Partners LLC Sells 636,190 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 20.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,531,480 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 636,190 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 3.30% of Veracyte worth $86,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Veracyte by 2,331.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 168.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the second quarter worth about $58,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte during the second quarter valued at about $83,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $85,000.

Veracyte Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $39.59 on Friday. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.61 and a fifty-two week high of $41.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.12.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly 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. The company 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%. Veracyte’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.03) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VCYT. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners boosted 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. UBS Group raised their target price on Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Veracyte from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total transaction of $163,164.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 76,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total value of $182,244.79. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,343 shares in the company, 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. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.