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

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors 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 94.35% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PCVX. Zacks Research raised Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. 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 issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Vaxcyte stock traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.60. The company had a trading volume of 240,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,375,771. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.19. Vaxcyte has a 1 year low of $31.89 and a 1 year high of $65.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.41 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 $5,667,934.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 65,890 shares of company stock worth $3,683,224. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

About Vaxcyte

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.