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

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $14.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 83.71% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on PCVX. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.71.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Vaxcyte stock opened at $85.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.68 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.56. Vaxcyte has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $121.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,664.25. This trade represents a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $710,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 109,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,720,610.98. The trade was a 6.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 68,616 shares of company stock valued at $6,095,681. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCVX. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Vaxcyte by 23.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,921,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,954,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,989 shares during the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,689,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $992,914,000 after buying an additional 485,436 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,405,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,174,000 after buying an additional 38,596 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,786,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,162,000 after buying an additional 324,560 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 10.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,700,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,675,000 after acquiring an additional 259,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

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.