Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.00.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, February 2nd.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 5.7%

NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $58.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of -10.34 and a beta of 1.31. Vaxcyte has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $65.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.97.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.12) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total transaction of $435,417.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 166,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,822,243.84. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 1,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $105,138.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,610,140.75. This represents a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,787 shares of company stock worth $687,031. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 31,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,443,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. HighVista Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.1% in the second quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 33,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 156.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

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.