Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $136.50.

Several brokerages have recently commented on PCVX. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 5.3 %

PCVX opened at $30.65 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.72 and its 200 day moving average is $82.64. The company has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.66 and a beta of 1.26. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $27.66 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) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.14. As a group, analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total value of $689,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 205,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,735,022.90. This trade represents a 3.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 32,000 shares of company stock worth $2,638,800 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Vaxcyte by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,210,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,393,000 after buying an additional 1,312,302 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter worth $90,069,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $979,184,000 after purchasing an additional 521,204 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its position in Vaxcyte by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 1,422,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,469,000 after buying an additional 518,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at $39,846,000. 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.