Insider Selling: Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) CEO Sells $901,094.74 in Stock

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) CEO Grant Pickering sold 16,198 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.63, for a total value of $901,094.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 453,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,214,130.61. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Grant Pickering also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 27th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.65, for a total value of $111,300.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.23, for a total value of $110,460.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Grant Pickering sold 22,237 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.21, for a total value of $1,227,704.77.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total transaction of $105,000.00.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total transaction of $1,179,202.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 1.6%

PCVX stock traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $54.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,301,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,452,639. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $52.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.71. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.08 and a 12 month high of $65.00. The company has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.04) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PCVX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research downgraded Vaxcyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 156.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 1,463.4% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 22,500.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares during 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.