Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) CEO Sells $1,227,704.77 in Stock

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.21, for a total transaction of $1,227,704.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 452,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,980,647.86. This represents a 4.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Grant Pickering also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, June 26th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.23, for a total transaction of $110,460.00.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total transaction of $105,000.00.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total transaction of $1,179,202.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

PCVX traded up $2.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.52. 8,654,447 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,490,102. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.93. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.08 and a twelve month high of $65.00. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.22 and a beta of 1.24.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.04) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PCVX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Vaxcyte by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,575,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,231,000 after acquiring an additional 3,188,687 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,981,038 shares during the last quarter. Caligan Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at about $78,660,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 418.0% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,725,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 302.6% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,672,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.