Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America lowered their target price on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 4.5 %

Shares of PCVX opened at $33.69 on Monday. Vaxcyte has a 12 month low of $30.12 and a 12 month high of $121.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.32 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.84.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.14. Equities research analysts expect that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value 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 $9,472,066.41. This represents a 6.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total value of $531,937.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at $610,664.25. This trade represents a 46.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,250 shares of company stock worth $3,170,738. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 188.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 742 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during 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.