Jennison Associates LLC Increases Stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC boosted its Vaxcyte stake by 150.6% in the first quarter, ending with 1.7 million shares worth about $98.7 million and representing roughly 1.18% of the company.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 96.78% of Vaxcyte shares. Several other funds also increased or initiated positions during the quarter.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed to bearish: recent ratings cuts have pushed the consensus to “Hold” with a $86 price target, while Vaxcyte also reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss of ($2.30) EPS versus estimates of ($1.74).

Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 150.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,698,011 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,020,458 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 1.18% of Vaxcyte worth $98,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 151,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,807,000 after purchasing an additional 6,952 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new position in Vaxcyte during the first quarter worth approximately $1,081,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Vaxcyte by 10.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,469 shares of the company's stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte in the first quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 5.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 474,526 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,575,000 after buying an additional 25,163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCVX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Vaxcyte from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

PCVX stock opened at $56.20 on Monday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.08 and a 12-month high of $65.00. The business's 50-day moving average is $52.34 and its 200 day moving average is $54.28. The stock has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.17 and a beta of 1.22.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vaxcyte news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total value of $572,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 104,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,979,745.60. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $126,742.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 156,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,830,290.80. This trade represents a 1.42% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,448 shares of company stock worth $4,091,197. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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