OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on OCX. Lake Street Capital assumed coverage on shares of OncoCyte in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $4.25 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.56.

OncoCyte Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of OCX opened at $2.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.22 million, a P/E ratio of -0.63 and a beta of 0.97. OncoCyte has a 12-month low of $1.92 and a 12-month high of $4.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.72.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of OncoCyte

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