Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Rating Increased to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on PCVX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Vaxcyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Vaxcyte stock opened at $58.07 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.21. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $29.29 and a 12-month high of $65.00. The stock has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.61 and a beta of 1.23.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.22) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In related news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total value of $572,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 104,395 shares in the company, valued at $5,979,745.60. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total transaction of $1,179,202.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 474,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,921,907.50. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 120,646 shares of company stock valued at $6,570,810. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Vaxcyte by 156.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 1,463.4% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 22,500.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc (NASDAQ: PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing a new generation of preventive vaccines aimed at combating serious bacterial diseases. Headquartered in San Carlos, California, Vaxcyte leverages proprietary conjugation technologies to design and manufacture multivalent vaccines targeting pathogens for which there remain significant unmet medical needs. The company’s platform is intended to streamline the production of conjugate vaccines by improving antigen presentation and broadening strain coverage compared with conventional approaches.

Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine designed to protect against 24 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.