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

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $160.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 119.61% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PCVX. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of Vaxcyte stock traded up $3.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $72.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 74,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,165,805. The business has a fifty day moving average of $82.82 and a 200 day moving average of $94.59. Vaxcyte has a 1-year low of $58.10 and a 1-year high of $121.06. The company has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a PE ratio of -15.84 and a beta of 1.02.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $669,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 205,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,208,443.70. The trade was a 3.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at $610,664.25. This represents a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,250 shares of company stock worth $4,550,258 in the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PCVX. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Vaxcyte by 188.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness.