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

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 176.84% from the company’s previous close.

PCVX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $136.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $32.51 on Tuesday. Vaxcyte has a 1-year low of $29.57 and a 1-year high of $121.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.42 and a 200 day moving average of $88.87. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of -7.07 and a beta of 1.26.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the business’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 owns 154,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,351,794.37. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,664.25. The trade was a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,170,738 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $979,184,000 after acquiring an additional 521,204 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,210,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312,302 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,405,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,174,000 after purchasing an additional 38,596 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $234,884,000 after purchasing an additional 82,997 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,802,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,495,000 after purchasing an additional 102,106 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Vaxcyte

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.