Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $147.50.

A number of analysts have commented on PCVX shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total value of $586,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,351,794.37. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,664.25. This trade represents a 46.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,250 shares of company stock worth $3,840,018 in the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCVX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $979,184,000 after acquiring an additional 521,204 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,921,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,954,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,989 shares during the period. RA Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 5.9% during the third quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,689,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $992,914,000 after purchasing an additional 485,436 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,210,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,393,000 after buying an additional 1,312,302 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,405,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,174,000 after buying an additional 38,596 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

PCVX opened at $69.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $80.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.10 and a beta of 1.02. Vaxcyte has a 12 month low of $58.10 and a 12 month high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.14. Equities analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

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.