Alliancebernstein L.P. Increases Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,779,362 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 133,448 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.43% of Vaxcyte worth $145,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,184,000 after purchasing an additional 521,204 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,921,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,954,000 after buying an additional 2,052,989 shares during the period. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,689,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $992,914,000 after buying an additional 485,436 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,405,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,174,000 after buying an additional 38,596 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,786,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,162,000 after acquiring an additional 324,560 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $32.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.01 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $78.00 and its 200 day moving average is $91.24. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.12 and a 1-year high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. On average, analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total transaction of $692,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 109,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,472,066.41. The trade was a 6.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total value of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,664.25. The trade was a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,840,018. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PCVX. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America decreased their target price on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

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.