Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX)

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $4.25 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 33.65% from the company’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on OncoCyte in a report on Monday, January 13th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock.

OncoCyte Trading Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ:OCX opened at $3.18 on Tuesday. OncoCyte has a 1-year low of $1.92 and a 1-year high of $4.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.72 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $2.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.72.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 24th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.88. The business had revenue of $1.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.16 million. OncoCyte had a negative net margin of 6,122.29% and a negative return on equity of 269.32%. Sell-side analysts predict that OncoCyte will post -2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other OncoCyte news, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith purchased 1,077,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.05 per share, with a total value of $2,209,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,872,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,888,975.55. This represents a 60.03 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrea S. James acquired 97,561 shares of OncoCyte stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $2.05 per share, with a total value of $200,000.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 151,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,023.55. The trade was a 181.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 1,185,625 shares of company stock worth $2,430,510. 1.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OCX. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of OncoCyte by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 6,481 shares during the last quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in OncoCyte in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of OncoCyte by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 11,289 shares during the period. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of OncoCyte during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of OncoCyte in the 4th quarter valued at about $126,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.35% of the company’s stock.

About OncoCyte

OncoCyte Corporation, a precision diagnostics company, focuses on development and commercialization of proprietary tests in the United States and internationally. The company is developing DetermaIO, a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies; DetermaCNI, a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients; and VitaGraft, a blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test.