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

Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $101.1667.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price target on Vaxcyte and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, November 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,623 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,469.28. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 9,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 23,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,198.32. The trade was a 28.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

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

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of Vaxcyte stock opened at $48.04 on Friday. Vaxcyte has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $93.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.49. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of -9.93 and a beta of 1.34.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.83) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

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.