First Light Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Key Points

• First Light Asset Management acquired 141,784 Vaxcyte shares valued at approximately $8.24 million, taking a 0.10% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 96.78% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Vaxcyte has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86, despite recent downgrades from Zacks Research and Wall Street Zen to “strong sell.”
• Vaxcyte reported a quarterly loss of $2.30 per share, missing estimates by $0.56. The stock opened at $54.66, while company insiders sold 75,448 shares worth about $4.09 million over the past three months.

First Light Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 141,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,239,000. First Light Asset Management LLC owned 0.10% of Vaxcyte at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SummitTX Capital L.P. grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 403.3% during the 1st quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 74,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 59,973 shares during the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the first quarter worth about $334,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 8.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 33,545 shares of the company's stock worth $1,949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,595 shares of the company's stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 2.9% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the company's stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PCVX shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vaxcyte currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

PCVX opened at $54.66 on Monday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.08 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total transaction of $572,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 104,395 shares in the company, valued at $5,979,745.60. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of Vaxcyte 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 158,494 shares in the company, valued at $7,848,622.88. This represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 75,448 shares of company stock valued at $4,091,197 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vaxcyte Company 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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