Spruce Street Capital LP Sells 154,651 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Spruce Street Capital LP lowered its position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 38.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 245,709 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,651 shares during the period. Vaxcyte comprises approximately 3.4% of Spruce Street Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Spruce Street Capital LP’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $14,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,213,000 after acquiring an additional 2,981,038 shares during the last quarter. Caligan Partners LP purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter valued at $78,660,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 418.0% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,725,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,000 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 302.6% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,672,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,253 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter worth $56,703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Vaxcyte Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $54.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.57. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.08 and a 12-month high of $65.00.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.04) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.52, for a total value of $111,420.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 158,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,848,622.88. The trade was a 1.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total transaction of $572,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 104,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,979,745.60. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,448 shares of company stock valued at $4,091,197. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Vaxcyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

About Vaxcyte

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.