Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Receives $127.71 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) have been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $147.50.

PCVX has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at $610,664.25. This represents a 46.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 154,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,351,794.37. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,616 shares of company stock worth $5,225,971 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $979,184,000 after purchasing an additional 521,204 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,921,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,247,954,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,989 shares during the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,689,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $992,914,000 after purchasing an additional 485,436 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,312,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 38,596 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $72.10 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.30 and a 200 day moving average of $94.91. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $121.06. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of -15.67 and a beta of 0.98.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.