Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 95.78% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PCVX. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.00.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX traded down $0.72 on Friday, hitting $56.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 326,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,376,204. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of -7.36 and a beta of 1.22. Vaxcyte has a fifty-two week low of $31.89 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.19.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.22) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.89, for a total transaction of $538,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 105,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,667,934.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.65, for a total value of $111,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 133,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,413,414.75. The trade was a 1.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,890 shares of company stock valued at $3,683,224. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Light Asset Management LLC raised its position in Vaxcyte by 143.4% during the second quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 345,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,064,000 after acquiring an additional 203,373 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,906,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 72.8% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 560 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Vaxcyte by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 33,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Vaxcyte in the 2nd quarter valued at $280,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines to prevent serious bacterial infections. The company’s lead programs target pneumococcal disease, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, bloodstream infections and other invasive illnesses. Vaxcyte is developing broad-spectrum pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidates designed to protect against a wide range of bacterial serotypes.

Vaxcyte’s pipeline has included VAX-24, an investigational 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, and VAX-31, a next-generation candidate designed to cover 31 serotypes.