Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 42.24% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.50.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $66.79 on Thursday. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $44.20 and a 12-month high of $82.04. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of -16.17 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.42.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($1.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.89) by ($0.93). During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.73) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total value of $865,106.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,480 shares in the company, valued at $924,518.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $865,106.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,480 shares in the company, valued at $924,518.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.02, for a total value of $552,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 95,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,603,764.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 63,294 shares of company stock worth $4,254,105. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Vaxcyte by 155.3% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 411 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the first quarter valued at $37,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in Vaxcyte by 96.7% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 1,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 1,122.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 3,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

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.