Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Purchases 663,817 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 21.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,732,715 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 663,817 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 2.85% of Vaxcyte worth $134,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 197.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Vaxcyte by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 110.8% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in Vaxcyte by 401.6% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Leerink Partners set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,623 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.92, for a total transaction of $556,974.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $696,469.28. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 9,743 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total value of $454,900.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,117,198.32. The trade was a 28.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $62.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.12 and a 200-day moving average of $43.58. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $83.33.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.12) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Vaxcyte 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.