Vaxcyte’s (PCVX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $160.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PCVX. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $74.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.17 and a beta of 1.02. Vaxcyte has a twelve month low of $58.10 and a twelve month high of $121.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $82.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.26.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. As a group, research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $710,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 109,491 shares in the company, valued at $9,720,610.98. This represents a 6.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total value of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,664.25. The trade was a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,250 shares of company stock worth $4,550,258. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 4,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 186.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,022,000 after acquiring an additional 34,287 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Vaxcyte during the third quarter worth about $286,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the third quarter valued at about $1,016,000. Finally, Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 24.1% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 14,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

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.