Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the stock.

PCVX has been the topic of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Vaxcyte from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $78.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

PCVX opened at $62.54 on Wednesday. Vaxcyte has a one year low of $34.11 and a one year high of $82.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.14 and a beta of 0.89.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($1.82) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by ($0.93). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.73) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vaxcyte will post -4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 1,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.87, for a total value of $123,141.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,529,847.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.93, for a total transaction of $1,003,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 477,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,982,299.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 1,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.87, for a total value of $123,141.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,529,847.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 109,577 shares of company stock worth $7,426,315 over the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 8.9% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 26,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 6,390 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Vaxcyte by 4.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 152,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 6,891 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 58.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 23,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 8,743 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 8.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 50,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness.