Jim Wassil Sells 7,395 Shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Stock

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total value of $435,417.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 166,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,822,243.84. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of PCVX opened at $56.21 on Friday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $76.61. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of -10.00 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $53.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.63.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.12) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 1,924.4% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth $1,170,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,981,038 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter worth $1,389,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCVX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price target on Vaxcyte and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.50.

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.