Evercore ISI Upgrades Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) to Strong-Buy

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Evercore ISI to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on PCVX. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $33.69 on Monday. Vaxcyte has a 1 year low of $30.12 and a 1 year high of $121.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $76.94 and a 200-day moving average of $90.84. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.32 and a beta of 1.02.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.14. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total transaction of $692,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 109,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,472,066.41. This represents a 6.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total value of $531,937.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,664.25. This represents a 46.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,250 shares of company stock worth $3,170,738. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCVX. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,210,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,302 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter worth about $90,069,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,184,000 after purchasing an additional 521,204 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 1,422,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,469,000 after purchasing an additional 518,255 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,846,000. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.