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

Guggenheim reiterated their buy rating on shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $116.00 target price on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on PCVX. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price target on Vaxcyte and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.83.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of Vaxcyte stock opened at $55.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.42 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.24. Vaxcyte has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $91.77.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($1.56) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by ($0.29). During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.83) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In related news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.92, for a total transaction of $556,974.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 14,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,469.28. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 9,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total transaction of $454,900.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,117,198.32. This represents a 28.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,320,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $443,783,000 after purchasing an additional 323,368 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,032,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,280,000 after buying an additional 77,967 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,942,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,672,000 after buying an additional 534,552 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,784,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,327,000 after buying an additional 411,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,732,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,452,000 after acquiring an additional 663,817 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

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.