Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 20.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,219 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carlyle Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the first quarter valued at approximately $72,080,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,808,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,585,000 after buying an additional 1,639,283 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter worth $42,066,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 13,673.8% during the first quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 716,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,845,000 after acquiring an additional 711,039 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at $24,524,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PCVX. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 2,618 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.42, for a total value of $131,999.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,825,789.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.82, for a total value of $158,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 170,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,982,886.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 2,618 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.42, for a total value of $131,999.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 155,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,825,789.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,618 shares of company stock worth $3,309,830. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $48.10 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $49.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.32 and a beta of 0.87. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.11 and a 1 year high of $54.97.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.74) by $0.04. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against these emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness.