Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. 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) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.12) EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on PCVX shares. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,623 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.92, for a total transaction of $556,974.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 14,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,469.28. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 9,743 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total value of $454,900.67. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,117,198.32. This trade represents a 28.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCVX. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised 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 purchasing an additional 663,817 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Vaxcyte by 6,856.3% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 17,895 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,610,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,640,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 36.4% during the second 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 last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.68 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.