Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target indicates a potential upside of 51.90% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of PCVX stock traded down $1.97 on Wednesday, reaching $62.54. 689,090 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 844,836. The company has a 50-day moving average of $71.31 and a 200-day moving average of $60.42. The company has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.14 and a beta of 0.89. Vaxcyte has a one year low of $34.11 and a one year high of $82.04.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($1.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by ($0.93). During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 1,667 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.87, for a total value of $123,141.29. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,710 shares in the company, valued at $1,529,847.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.93, for a total value of $1,003,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 477,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,982,299.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 1,667 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.87, for a total value of $123,141.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,529,847.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 109,577 shares of company stock valued at $7,426,315 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PCVX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,452,371 shares of the company's stock valued at $530,809,000 after purchasing an additional 168,125 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 39.0% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,065,088 shares of the company's stock worth $352,830,000 after buying an additional 1,983,223 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Vaxcyte by 3.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,598,712 shares of the company's stock worth $234,442,000 after acquiring an additional 167,501 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Vaxcyte by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,440,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $216,039,000 after acquiring an additional 75,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,163,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,976,000 after acquiring an additional 87,296 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Company Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness.