Polar Capital Holdings Plc Has $79.70 Million Holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc lessened its stake in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 973,645 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,134 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $79,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 188.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 742 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $29.42 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.08 and its 200-day moving average is $73.02. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $121.06. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of -6.40 and a beta of 1.27.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.02). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.85) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total transaction of $586,160.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,931 shares in the company, valued at $11,351,794.37. This represents a 4.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on PCVX shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued 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 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.