Investors Purchase High Volume of Vaxcyte Put Options (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 31,587 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,385% compared to the average volume of 1,271 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PCVX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vaxcyte currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of PCVX traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $57.38. 1,262,390 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,487,142. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.60 and its 200 day moving average is $53.00. The stock has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.35 and a beta of 1.24. Vaxcyte has a 1-year low of $29.08 and a 1-year high of $65.00.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its 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 period last year, the business earned ($1.04) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -7.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $1,179,202.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 474,703 shares in the company, valued at $24,921,907.50. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.52, for a total transaction of $111,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 158,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,848,622.88. This represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,198 shares of company stock valued at $3,571,655. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,565,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,373,000 after acquiring an additional 366,266 shares during the period. Pivotal bioVenture Partners Investment Advisor LLC boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pivotal bioVenture Partners Investment Advisor LLC now owns 1,372,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,435,000 after acquiring an additional 67,300 shares in the last quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 159.4% in the third quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 86,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after acquiring an additional 53,345 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 127.2% in the third quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 24,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 13,617 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Vaxcyte by 105.3% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 70,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 35,974 shares in 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.