Traders Purchase Large Volume of Vaxcyte Put Options (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 8,169 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 671% compared to the typical volume of 1,059 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was 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 owned 166,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,822,243.84. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $180,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 28,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,738,500. The trade was a 9.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,037 shares of company stock valued at $994,899. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PCVX. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 156.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 1,463.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Vaxcyte by 148.9% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Vaxcyte during the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PCVX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Vaxcyte stock traded down $0.36 on Tuesday, reaching $53.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 452,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,386,854. Vaxcyte has a twelve month low of $28.64 and a twelve month high of $65.00. The company has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.98.

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 period last year, the business posted ($1.04) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.46 earnings per share 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.