EcoR1 Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 450,000 Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Key Points

• EcoR1 Capital LLC opened a new position in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter, buying 450,000 shares valued at about $20.8 million. The stake represents roughly 0.34% of Vaxcyte and makes it EcoR1’s 18th-largest holding.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 96.78% of Vaxcyte shares. Several large investors, including Vanguard, Wellington, State Street, and Paradigm Biocapital, also increased their positions recently.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CAO Elvia Cowan and COO Jim Wassil through pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans. Meanwhile, analysts are mixed but still lean positive overall, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $86.

EcoR1 Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 450,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,763,000. Vaxcyte makes up about 0.9% of EcoR1 Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. EcoR1 Capital LLC owned 0.34% of Vaxcyte at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,320,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $443,783,000 after purchasing an additional 323,368 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,032,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $181,280,000 after purchasing an additional 77,967 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,980,005 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,777,000 after purchasing an additional 194,116 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 4,068,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $187,698,000 after purchasing an additional 283,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 21.6% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,732,715 shares of the company's stock valued at $134,452,000 after purchasing an additional 663,817 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,738,500. This represents a 9.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.52, for a total transaction of $111,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 158,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,848,622.88. This trade represents a 1.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $419,288 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $50.67 on Thursday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a one year low of $29.08 and a one year high of $65.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.36 and a beta of 1.24.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.04) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on PCVX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.00.

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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