Vaxcyte Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 3,549 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,333 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PCVX. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

PCVX stock traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $60.59. The stock had a trading volume of 250,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,364,976. Vaxcyte has a 52-week low of $30.81 and a 52-week high of $65.00. The firm has a market cap of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.27.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its earnings results 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.22) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $1,179,202.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 474,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,921,907.50. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $935,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 76,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,221,580. The trade was a 18.13% 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. Insiders sold a total of 121,873 shares of company stock worth $6,671,730 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. NEXTBio Capital Management LP bought a new position in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at $4,406,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth $56,703,000. Elmind Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,450,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 141.8% during the fourth quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 917,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,313,000 after purchasing an additional 537,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,306,000. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

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.