Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Vaxcyte Put Options (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 8,169 put options on the company. This is an increase of 671% compared to the typical volume of 1,059 put options.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $53.64. The stock had a trading volume of 452,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,386,854. The company has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.98. Vaxcyte has a 52 week low of $28.64 and a 52 week high of $65.00.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 in the prior year, the business posted ($1.04) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Vaxcyte will post -7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PCVX. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.83, for a total value of $127,867.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 160,744 shares in the company, valued at $9,135,081.52. The trade was a 1.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,738,500. The trade was a 9.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold a total of 17,037 shares of company stock worth $994,899 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the 1st quarter worth $6,190,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 95.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 375,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,836,000 after purchasing an additional 183,986 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 189.1% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.2% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 233,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,545,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

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.