Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys Shares of 323,565 Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 323,565 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,218,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.25% of Vaxcyte as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PCVX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,961,687 shares of the company's stock worth $979,184,000 after purchasing an additional 521,204 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,312,302 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,869,332 shares of the company's stock valued at $234,884,000 after buying an additional 82,997 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,802,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,495,000 after buying an additional 102,106 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,779,362 shares of the company's stock worth $145,659,000 after purchasing an additional 133,448 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PCVX. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Vaxcyte to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $136.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $34.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,186,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,107. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $121.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.51 and a beta of 1.20.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.02) by ($0.02). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.85) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vaxcyte Company 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.