Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PCVX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $56.74 on Tuesday. Vaxcyte has a 12 month low of $29.08 and a 12 month high of $65.00. The stock has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of -8.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $52.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.15.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.04) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total value of $572,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 104,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,979,745.60. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $126,742.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 156,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,830,290.80. The trade was a 1.42% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 75,448 shares of company stock worth $4,091,197 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 156.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 1,463.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Vaxcyte by 148.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.