Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $140.00 price objective on the stock.

PCVX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Vaxcyte currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

PCVX stock opened at $78.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of -17.10 and a beta of 0.98. Vaxcyte has a one year low of $58.10 and a one year high of $121.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $85.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.88.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its 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. On average, research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In related news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.49, for a total value of $739,920.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 205,695 shares in the company, valued at $19,024,730.55. The trade was a 3.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,664.25. This trade represents a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,616 shares of company stock worth $6,766,481 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PCVX. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 33.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 1,007.9% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Company 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.