abrdn plc Increases Holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

abrdn plc increased its stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 171.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 224,824 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 141,994 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $18,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 33.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 1,007.9% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 698 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Vaxcyte during the third quarter valued at $92,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 51.9% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PCVX. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.71.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Vaxcyte stock opened at $89.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a PE ratio of -19.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.42. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.10 and a fifty-two week high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.27. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.91) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.49, for a total value of $739,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 205,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,024,730.55. The trade was a 3.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.45, for a total transaction of $1,386,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 450,301 shares in the company, valued at $41,630,327.45. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,616 shares of company stock valued at $6,095,681 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness.