California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 7,045 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188,041 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,045 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $15,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 211.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 44,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,675,000 after purchasing an additional 30,444 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 7,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,017,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,321,000 after acquiring an additional 236,940 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $90,069,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,405,000 after acquiring an additional 15,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on PCVX shares. Evercore ISI raised Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total transaction of $586,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 154,931 shares in the company, valued at $11,351,794.37. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total value of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,664.25. The trade was a 46.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,250 shares of company stock worth $3,170,738 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $31.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 1.26. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.57 and a 1 year high of $121.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.85.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. Equities research analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. 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.