Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Trading Up 6.4% – Still a Buy?

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) shares traded up 6.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $60.39 and last traded at $60.6080. Approximately 353,632 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 1,495,872 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.96.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PCVX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 0.8%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.80. The company has a market capitalization of $8.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.61 and a beta of 1.22.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.04) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total value of $572,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 104,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,979,745.60. The trade was a 8.74% 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, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $126,742.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 156,760 shares in the company, valued at $8,830,290.80. The trade was a 1.42% 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. Insiders sold a total of 75,448 shares of company stock worth $4,091,197 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 30.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,565,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,373,000 after buying an additional 366,266 shares during the period. Pivotal bioVenture Partners Investment Advisor LLC grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pivotal bioVenture Partners Investment Advisor LLC now owns 1,372,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,435,000 after buying an additional 67,300 shares during the period. HighVista Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 159.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 86,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after acquiring an additional 53,345 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 127.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 24,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 13,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NEXTBio Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter worth about $4,406,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc (NASDAQ: PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing a new generation of preventive vaccines aimed at combating serious bacterial diseases. Headquartered in San Carlos, California, Vaxcyte leverages proprietary conjugation technologies to design and manufacture multivalent vaccines targeting pathogens for which there remain significant unmet medical needs. The company’s platform is intended to streamline the production of conjugate vaccines by improving antigen presentation and broadening strain coverage compared with conventional approaches.

Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine designed to protect against 24 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.