Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 8,169 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 671% compared to the average daily volume of 1,059 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PCVX. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.83, for a total value of $127,867.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 160,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,135,081.52. This trade represents a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 28,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,738,500. This represents a 9.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 17,037 shares of company stock valued at $994,899 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 35.9% during 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 buying an additional 2,981,038 shares during the last quarter. Caligan Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth about $78,660,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 418.0% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,725,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,000 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 302.6% in the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,672,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $54.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 218,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,383,169. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $57.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.15. Vaxcyte has a one year low of $29.00 and a one year high of $65.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.86 and a beta of 1.30.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.04) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

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.