Ameriprise Financial Inc. Acquires 366,622 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 104.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 716,773 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 366,622 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.58% of Vaxcyte worth $58,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Vaxcyte by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,210,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $508,393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,302 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter worth about $90,069,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company's stock valued at $979,184,000 after acquiring an additional 521,204 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,862,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter valued at about $21,669,000. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of PCVX traded down $1.54 on Tuesday, reaching $30.05. The stock had a trading volume of 2,665,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,321,417. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.32. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $121.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.53 and a beta of 1.27.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.02). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.85) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total transaction of $586,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 154,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,351,794.37. This represents a 4.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCVX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Vaxcyte to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, 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, April 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $136.50.

Vaxcyte 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.