Nicholas Investment Partners LP Has $8.21 Million Stock Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,307 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,424 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $8,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 188.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Vaxcyte by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 742 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on PCVX shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $136.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total value of $586,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,351,794.37. This trade represents a 4.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

NASDAQ PCVX opened at $30.05 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.32. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $121.06. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of -6.53 and a beta of 1.27.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.04) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.02). During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.85) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

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.