Aberdeen Group plc Increases Holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 35.6% in Q4, buying 256,972 shares to hold 979,765 shares (about 0.75% of the company) worth roughly $45.2 million.
• Analysts skew positive: seven rate PCVX a Buy (one Hold, one Sell), giving a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $86.
• Vaxcyte reported Q4 EPS of ($1.80), missing estimates, and insiders sold 11,787 shares (~$687k) last quarter, while the company remains unprofitable with a market cap of about $8.4 billion.

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 35.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 979,765 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 256,972 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.75% of Vaxcyte worth $45,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 544,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,134,000 after buying an additional 324,778 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte during the 3rd quarter valued at $72,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 148.9% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,222 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 30.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,565,036 shares of the company's stock worth $56,373,000 after buying an additional 366,266 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PCVX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, January 9th. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vaxcyte presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX opened at $58.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.39 and a beta of 1.38. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $65.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.54 and a 200 day moving average of $48.43.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.12) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vaxcyte news, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 1,892 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $105,138.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,610,140.75. This trade represents a 6.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total value of $435,417.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 166,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,822,243.84. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 11,787 shares of company stock valued at $687,031 in the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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