Jupiter Topco LLC Invests $1.04 Billion in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 17,965,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,044,355,000. Jupiter Topco LLC owned 0.12% of Vaxcyte at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 115.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 29,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 15,774 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the 1st quarter valued at $219,000. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the 1st quarter valued at $226,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 513,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,409,000 after acquiring an additional 41,034 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 932 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Vaxcyte stock opened at $61.09 on Wednesday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.87 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00. The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.01 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.88.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted 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 in the previous year, the company earned ($1.22) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.89, for a total transaction of $538,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 105,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,667,934.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $935,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 76,756 shares in the company, valued at $4,221,580. This trade represents a 18.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 120,646 shares of company stock valued at $6,570,810 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PCVX. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Vaxcyte from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.00.

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.