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

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.00.

Several analysts have weighed in on PCVX shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Needham & Company LLC upped 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 upped their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, February 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 166,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,822,243.84. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.59, for a total transaction of $146,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 30,867 shares in the company, valued at $1,808,497.53. The trade was a 7.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 11,787 shares of company stock worth $687,031 over the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PCVX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,981,038 shares in the last quarter. Caligan Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,660,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position 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 worth $79,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,000 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its position 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 worth $77,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,703,000. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Vaxcyte stock opened at $60.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.80 and a beta of 1.38. Vaxcyte has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $65.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $56.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.94.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) earnings per share 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

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.