Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Given Buy Rating at Guggenheim

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $160.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 119.12% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 0.3 %

PCVX stock opened at $73.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a PE ratio of -15.87 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.29. Vaxcyte has a fifty-two week low of $58.10 and a fifty-two week high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. Equities analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $669,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 205,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,208,443.70. The trade was a 3.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,250 shares of company stock worth $4,550,258 over the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vaxcyte

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