Vaxcyte’s (PCVX) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $110.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 93.32% from the company’s current price.

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

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $56.90 on Friday. Vaxcyte has a fifty-two week low of $31.89 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a PE ratio of -7.46 and a beta of 1.22.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.22) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 16,198 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.63, for a total transaction of $901,094.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 453,247 shares in the company, valued at $25,214,130.61. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $935,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 76,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,221,580. This trade represents a 18.13% 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 65,890 shares of company stock valued at $3,683,224. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

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

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.