Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 126,467 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Key Points

• Vanguard Group trimmed its Vaxcyte stake by 1.0%, selling 126,467 shares and now owns 12,193,986 shares—about 9.31% of the company valued at ~$562.6 million.
• Institutional ownership is very high (96.78%), and several large managers (Wellington, State Street, Paradigm, Westfield, Deep Track) have recently increased their positions, indicating strong institutional accumulation.
• Analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $86 (some targets raised to $110–$116), despite Vaxcyte reporting continued losses (quarterly EPS -$1.80) and the stock trading near $58.49.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,193,986 shares of the company's stock after selling 126,467 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.31% of Vaxcyte worth $562,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.6% during 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 boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 12.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,942,235 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,672,000 after purchasing an additional 534,552 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 12.2% in the third quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,784,755 shares of the company's stock worth $136,327,000 after acquiring an additional 411,918 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 21.6% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,732,715 shares of the company's stock worth $134,452,000 after acquiring an additional 663,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deep Track Capital LP boosted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 39.5% in the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock worth $108,060,000 after acquiring an additional 850,000 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Vaxcyte from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $116.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Six investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

PCVX stock opened at $58.49 on Tuesday. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.09 and a 1-year high of $65.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.41 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,738,500. The trade was a 9.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 7,395 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total value of $435,417.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 166,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,822,243.84. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 17,037 shares of company stock valued at $994,899 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

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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