Zacks Research Downgrades Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) to Strong Sell

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PCVX. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 0.9%

PCVX stock opened at $56.74 on Tuesday. Vaxcyte has a 52 week low of $29.08 and a 52 week high of $65.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $52.18 and a 200 day moving average of $54.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of -8.25 and a beta of 1.22.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.04) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vaxcyte will post -7.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $126,742.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 156,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,830,290.80. The trade was a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.23, for a total transaction of $110,460.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,215 shares in the company, valued at $7,412,694.45. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 75,448 shares of company stock worth $4,091,197 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 20.8% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 49,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,872,000 after buying an additional 8,500 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 5,116 shares during the period. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP increased its position in Vaxcyte by 406.4% during the 1st quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 128,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,464,000 after purchasing an additional 103,085 shares during the period. DV Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the first quarter valued at about $1,162,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 73.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,216,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,711,000 after purchasing an additional 515,209 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc (NASDAQ: PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing a new generation of preventive vaccines aimed at combating serious bacterial diseases. Headquartered in San Carlos, California, Vaxcyte leverages proprietary conjugation technologies to design and manufacture multivalent vaccines targeting pathogens for which there remain significant unmet medical needs. The company’s platform is intended to streamline the production of conjugate vaccines by improving antigen presentation and broadening strain coverage compared with conventional approaches.

Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine designed to protect against 24 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.