Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $101.1667.

Several research firms recently commented on PCVX. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, November 10th. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In related news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,623 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.92, for a total transaction of $556,974.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,469.28. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 9,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total value of $454,900.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 23,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,198.32. This represents a 28.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Vaxcyte in the 2nd quarter worth $32,109,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 42.4% in the second quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,068,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,770,000 after acquiring an additional 913,761 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 39.5% in the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,060,000 after acquiring an additional 850,000 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the second quarter valued at about $26,318,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,942,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,672,000 after purchasing an additional 534,552 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Vaxcyte stock opened at $48.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.93 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.49. Vaxcyte has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $93.77.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 prior year, the firm posted ($0.83) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS 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.