18,600 Shares in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX Bought by Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.

Key Points

• Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d’investissement inc. opened a new position in Vaxcyte, buying 18,600 shares worth about $1.08 million in the first quarter.
• Institutional interest in PCVX remains high, with 96.78% of the stock owned by institutional investors and hedge funds, even as some analysts have turned more bearish on the name.
• Vaxcyte also saw recent insider selling, including CEO Grant Pickering and COO Jim Wassil, while the company reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss of $2.30 per share.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 18,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,081,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,469 shares of the company's stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 619 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the first quarter worth about $381,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 5.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 474,526 shares of the company's stock worth $27,575,000 after acquiring an additional 25,163 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 34.2% during the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,264 shares of the company's stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 7.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,275 shares of the company's stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PCVX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Vaxcyte from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.00.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total transaction of $1,179,202.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 474,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,921,907.50. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.52, for a total transaction of $111,420.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 158,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,848,622.88. The trade was a 1.40% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 75,448 shares of company stock valued at $4,091,197. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $56.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.23. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.08 and a 12 month high of $65.00. The firm has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.17 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Vaxcyte 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.

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