Vaxcyte’s (PCVX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $110.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 94.62% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on PCVX. Wall Street Zen raised Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of Vaxcyte stock traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $56.52. 136,984 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,375,104. Vaxcyte has a 1-year low of $31.89 and a 1-year high of $65.00. The firm has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.41 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.19.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.22) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Vaxcyte news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.89, for a total transaction of $538,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 105,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,667,934.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $935,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 76,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,221,580. The trade was a 18.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 65,890 shares of company stock valued at $3,683,224. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 143.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 345,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,064,000 after acquiring an additional 203,373 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the second quarter worth approximately $1,906,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 72.8% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 560 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 33,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after buying an additional 1,394 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 2nd quarter worth about $280,000. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines to prevent serious bacterial infections. The company’s lead programs target pneumococcal disease, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, bloodstream infections and other invasive illnesses. Vaxcyte is developing broad-spectrum pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidates designed to protect against a wide range of bacterial serotypes.

Vaxcyte’s pipeline has included VAX-24, an investigational 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, and VAX-31, a next-generation candidate designed to cover 31 serotypes.