Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Down 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) shares traded down 3.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $47.43 and last traded at $46.95. 910,403 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 1,383,667 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vaxcyte has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $57.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.35.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.04) EPS. Analysts predict that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $180,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,738,500. The trade was a 9.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.83, for a total transaction of $127,867.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 160,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,135,081.52. This represents a 1.38% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,037 shares of company stock worth $994,899. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PCVX. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 115.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 29,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 15,774 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 1st quarter worth about $219,000. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 1st quarter worth about $226,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 513,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,409,000 after buying an additional 41,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by 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.