Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $95.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Thursday, June 20th.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX opened at $75.51 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.00. Vaxcyte has a one year low of $44.20 and a one year high of $82.04. The company has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.85) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by $0.28. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte will post -3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.64, for a total value of $1,134,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 478,888 shares in the company, valued at $36,223,088.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.64, for a total value of $1,134,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 478,888 shares in the company, valued at $36,223,088.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Halley E. Gilbert sold 18,200 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total transaction of $1,328,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $410,625. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 86,483 shares of company stock worth $6,048,133 over the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 16.6% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 25,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,712,000 after buying an additional 3,564 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 11,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 377,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,780,000 after acquiring an additional 374,000 shares during the period. RA Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,203,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,398,000 after acquiring an additional 312,500 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in Vaxcyte during the first quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 11.8% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 92,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,286,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

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.