Castleark Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Castleark Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,360 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,260 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $4,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,184,000 after buying an additional 521,204 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,210,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,302 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,869,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,884,000 after acquiring an additional 82,997 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,802,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,495,000 after purchasing an additional 102,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,779,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,659,000 after purchasing an additional 133,448 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 7.1%

Shares of PCVX opened at $33.97 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.45. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $121.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.38 and a beta of 1.27.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.02). During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.85) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America lowered their target price on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $136.50.

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.