Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $40.67 Million Stock Position in Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its Vaxcyte stake by 14.4% in Q4, selling 148,194 shares and finishing the period with 881,435 shares (~0.67% of the company) valued at $40.67 million.
• Company insiders have been selling: CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares at $60 and COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares at $58.88, with insiders disposing of 14,787 shares worth $867,031 over the past 90 days (insiders now own 3.10%).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but mildly positive: six analysts rate PCVX a Buy, one a Hold and one a Sell, yielding an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 881,435 shares of the company's stock after selling 148,194 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.67% of Vaxcyte worth $40,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PCVX. UBS Group AG grew its position in Vaxcyte by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,093,593 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,458,000 after acquiring an additional 246,020 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 105.3% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 70,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 35,974 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,002 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,846,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the company's stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,738,500. This represents a 9.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total value of $435,417.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 166,818 shares in the company, valued at $9,822,243.84. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 14,787 shares of company stock valued at $867,031 over the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PCVX has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX opened at $57.32 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.43. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.09 and a 1 year high of $65.00. The firm has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of -10.20 and a beta of 1.38.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($1.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.46) by ($0.34). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.12) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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