OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $4.25 price objective on the stock.

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

OncoCyte Stock Performance

NASDAQ OCX opened at $3.22 on Tuesday. OncoCyte has a 52-week low of $1.92 and a 52-week high of $4.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $2.77 and a 200-day moving average of $2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $56.20 million, a P/E ratio of -0.73 and a beta of 0.79.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 24th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.88. The firm had revenue of $1.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.16 million. OncoCyte had a negative return on equity of 269.32% and a negative net margin of 6,122.29%. As a group, analysts forecast that OncoCyte will post -2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at OncoCyte

In other OncoCyte news, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith acquired 1,077,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.05 per share, for a total transaction of $2,209,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,872,671 shares in the company, valued at $5,888,975.55. This represents a 60.03 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrea S. James bought 97,561 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 151,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,023.55. This represents a 181.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,185,625 shares of company stock worth $2,430,510. 1.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of OncoCyte

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in OncoCyte during the 4th quarter valued at about $126,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of OncoCyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Broadwood Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of OncoCyte by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Broadwood Capital Inc. now owns 6,244,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,862,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,339 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC bought a new stake in OncoCyte in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in OncoCyte by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 137,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 33,089 shares in the last quarter. 55.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.