Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Vaxcyte’s call-option activity rose sharply, with investors purchasing 2,615 calls—about 17% above the average volume of 2,238 contracts.
• Lead vaccine candidate VAX-31 met all prespecified primary endpoints in its pivotal adult Phase 3 trial, showing broad serotype coverage and strong immune responses versus competing vaccines. Further safety, regulatory and commercialization details remain important.
• Shares jumped $19.97 to $76.45, while Wall Street maintained a generally positive view: six analysts rate the stock Buy, one Hold and one Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $106.20.

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 2,615 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 17% compared to the average volume of 2,238 call options.

Key Vaxcyte News

Here are the key news stories impacting Vaxcyte this week:

• Positive Sentiment: VAX-31 met all prespecified primary endpoints across the adult age groups studied, compared with Prevnar 20 (PCV20) and/or Capvaxive (PCV21). The result removes a major clinical-development hurdle for Vaxcyte’s lead vaccine candidate. Vaxcyte Reports Positive Topline Data from OPUS-1
• Positive Sentiment: The vaccine demonstrated broad serotype coverage and strong immune responses, supporting Vaxcyte’s positioning of VAX-31 as a potentially differentiated competitor in the adult pneumococcal vaccine market. Broader Coverage and Strong Immune Responses Highlight Vaxcyte’s Phase 3 Vaccine Readout
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports characterized the primary-endpoint results as successful, triggering a significant investor response and improving the outlook for regulatory submissions and eventual commercialization. Vaxcyte Says Pneumococcal Vaccine Phase 3 Trial Meets Primary Endpoints
• Neutral Sentiment: The company scheduled a webcast and conference call to review the OPUS-1 topline data, with additional details on safety, tolerability and immunogenicity likely to be important for assessing the results. Vaxcyte to Host Webcast and Conference Call to Present OPUS-1 Data
• Neutral Sentiment: The announcement contains topline results rather than a complete clinical dataset. Investors will still monitor detailed safety findings, regulatory discussions, filing timelines and the competitive response from marketed pneumococcal vaccines.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PCVX. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Vaxcyte from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Vaxcyte from $133.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $106.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 16,198 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.63, for a total transaction of $901,094.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 453,247 shares in the company, valued at $25,214,130.61. This trade represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.89, for a total value of $538,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 105,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,667,934.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 55,890 shares of company stock worth $3,111,189 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Light Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 143.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 345,157 shares of the company's stock worth $20,064,000 after buying an additional 203,373 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte during the second quarter worth approximately $1,906,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 72.8% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 560 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Vaxcyte by 4.3% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 33,755 shares of the company's stock worth $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the second quarter worth approximately $280,000. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX traded up $19.97 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $76.45. The stock had a trading volume of 6,647,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,407,190. The company has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.94 and a beta of 1.23. Vaxcyte has a twelve month low of $39.87 and a twelve month high of $90.75. The business's fifty day moving average is $58.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.18.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.22) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc NASDAQ: PCVX is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines to help prevent serious bacterial infections. The company uses its cell-free protein synthesis and advanced conjugation technologies to design vaccines intended to provide broad and durable protection while addressing limitations of existing vaccine products.

Vaxcyte's lead programs are pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidates, including VAX-24 and VAX-31, which are designed to target a broad range of pneumococcal serotypes.

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