Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 76.43% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on PCVX. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.71.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 2.9 %

PCVX stock opened at $79.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a PE ratio of -17.25 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $85.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.00. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.14. Equities analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,664.25. This represents a 46.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $710,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 109,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,720,610.98. The trade was a 6.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 76,616 shares of company stock worth $6,766,481. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 188.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 1,007.9% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

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.