Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $61.35, but opened at $57.77. Vaxcyte shares last traded at $61.1990, with a volume of 254,111 shares traded.

The company reported ($1.80) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.12) earnings per share.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PCVX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, January 9th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 target price on Vaxcyte and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte in the second quarter worth about $1,610,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Vaxcyte during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,640,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 6,856.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 17,895 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 55,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,804,000 after buying an additional 14,799 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,359,000. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.21 and a beta of 1.33.

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.