141,784 Shares in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX Purchased by First Light Asset Management LLC

First Light Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 141,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,239,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SummitTX Capital L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 403.3% during the first quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 74,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 59,973 shares during the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the first quarter worth approximately $334,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 8.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 33,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Vaxcyte by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total transaction of $572,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 75,448 shares of company stock valued at $4,091,197. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PCVX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

NASDAQ PCVX opened at $54.66 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.08 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.04) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 EPS for the current year.

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.