Trexquant Investment LP Decreases Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,249 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,689 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.05% of Vaxcyte worth $5,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte during the 3rd quarter valued at about $489,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,405,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,174,000 after purchasing an additional 38,596 shares during the period. Wolverine Trading LLC bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the third quarter worth approximately $343,000. Castleark Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 25.0% in the third quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 54,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,241,000 after buying an additional 10,930 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in Vaxcyte during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,559,000. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total value of $586,160.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,351,794.37. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total value of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, 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 quarter, insiders sold 38,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,170,738. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 3.4 %

PCVX opened at $31.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.85. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.57 and a 12-month high of $121.06.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PCVX shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.50.

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.