Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 147.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 544,728 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 324,778 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.42% of Vaxcyte worth $25,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,565,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,373,000 after purchasing an additional 366,266 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Vaxcyte by 21.6% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,732,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,452,000 after buying an additional 663,817 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its position in Vaxcyte by 127.2% in the third quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 24,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 13,617 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 6,856.3% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 17,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pivotal bioVenture Partners Investment Advisor LLC lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 5.2% in the third quarter. Pivotal bioVenture Partners Investment Advisor LLC now owns 1,372,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,435,000 after buying an additional 67,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In related news, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 1,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $105,138.44. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 28,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,610,140.75. The trade was a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the insider owned 23,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,117,198.32. This trade represents a 28.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,530 shares of company stock valued at $1,141,932. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $55.91 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.95 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.23. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $72.66.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.12) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PCVX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.50.

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.