Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $52.82, but opened at $55.25. Vaxcyte shares last traded at $53.27, with a volume of 397,654 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, January 9th. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.17.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 1.4%

The company has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of -11.07 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $47.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.83.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.83) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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 Vaxcyte stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 14,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $696,469.28. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 9,743 shares of Vaxcyte 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 sale, the insider directly owned 23,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,117,198.32. The trade was a 28.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,093,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,458,000 after purchasing an additional 246,020 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 105.3% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 70,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 35,974 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,846,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.