Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 171,974 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 358.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 219,950 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 171,974 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.17% of Vaxcyte worth $7,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PCVX. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 110.8% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 23.6% in the second quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 31,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 6,083 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the second quarter worth about $728,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the second quarter worth approximately $1,301,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 12.2% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 26,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 2,941 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price target on Vaxcyte and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, November 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.83.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $46.42 on Friday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $93.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.59 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $45.06 and its 200 day moving average is $37.89.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($1.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by ($0.29). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.83) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc (NASDAQ: PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing a new generation of preventive vaccines aimed at combating serious bacterial diseases. Headquartered in San Carlos, California, Vaxcyte leverages proprietary conjugation technologies to design and manufacture multivalent vaccines targeting pathogens for which there remain significant unmet medical needs. The company’s platform is intended to streamline the production of conjugate vaccines by improving antigen presentation and broadening strain coverage compared with conventional approaches.

Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine designed to protect against 24 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.