Vaxcyte Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Key Points

• Unusually heavy put-option activity: Traders bought 3,549 put options on Vaxcyte, 52% above the typical daily volume of 2,333 contracts.
• Shares slipped 0.9% to $60.59, while analysts maintained a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $86.00. Vaxcyte recently reported a quarterly loss of $1.97 per share, slightly better than expectations.
• Insiders sold shares worth $6.67 million over the last quarter, though the transactions were made under pre-arranged trading plans. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company.

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 3,549 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,333 put options.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 0.9%

PCVX traded down $0.57 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.59. 250,271 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,364,976. The company has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.27. Vaxcyte has a fifty-two week low of $30.81 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCVX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Vaxcyte from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vaxcyte from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vaxcyte currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Harpreet S. Dhaliwal sold 17,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $935,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 76,756 shares in the company, valued at $4,221,580. The trade was a 18.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $1,179,202.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 474,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,921,907.50. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 121,873 shares of company stock worth $6,671,730 over the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 4,151 shares of the company's stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Vaxcyte by 2.9% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the company's stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,344 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,275 shares of the company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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