Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Trading Up 3.9% – Time to Buy?

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)’s stock price rose 3.9% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $47.27 and last traded at $47.1860. Approximately 207,483 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,716,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on PCVX shares. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price target on Vaxcyte and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.83.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 1.6%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $45.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.53 and a beta of 1.34.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($1.56) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by ($0.29). During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.83) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,623 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.92, for a total value of $556,974.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 14,534 shares in the company, valued at $696,469.28. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PCVX. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in Vaxcyte during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 148.9% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Vaxcyte in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 22,500.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Vaxcyte by 197.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.