Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 95.30% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PCVX. Zacks Research upgraded Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.40.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Vaxcyte stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.33. 676,169 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,378,606. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of -7.37 and a beta of 1.22. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $37.69 and a 12-month high of $65.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.63 and its 200-day moving average is $56.17.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.22) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 3,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.07, for a total value of $212,340.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 155,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,468,353.87. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 16,198 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.63, for a total value of $901,094.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 453,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,214,130.61. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 63,640 shares of company stock worth $3,556,482. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Vaxcyte during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,044,355,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $701,520,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,575,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,188,687 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,981,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,001,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386,968 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc (NASDAQ: PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines to help prevent serious bacterial infections. The company uses its cell-free protein synthesis and advanced conjugation technologies to design vaccines intended to provide broad and durable protection while addressing limitations of existing vaccine products.

Vaxcyte’s lead programs are pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidates, including VAX-24 and VAX-31, which are designed to target a broad range of pneumococcal serotypes.