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

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $110.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 88.78% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on PCVX. Zacks Research raised Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.40.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX traded up $2.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.27. 1,848,941 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,382,224. Vaxcyte has a 1 year low of $33.62 and a 1 year high of $65.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.17. The stock has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.64 and a beta of 1.22.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.22) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 3,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.07, for a total transaction of $212,340.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 155,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,468,353.87. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.89, for a total transaction of $538,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 105,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,667,934.64. This trade represents a 8.68% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 65,890 shares of company stock valued at $3,683,224. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,044,355,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,575,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,231,000 after buying an additional 3,188,687 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the second quarter worth approximately $701,520,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Vaxcyte by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,213,000 after acquiring an additional 2,981,038 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 24.7% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,001,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386,968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

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.