Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Stock Jumps 8.7% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Vaxcyte shares jumped 8.7% in midday trading, reaching approximately $70.67, with trading volume below the stock’s average session volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: six analysts rate the stock a Buy, one rates it Hold, and one rates it Sell, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $108.60 price target.
• Vaxcyte beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting a loss of $1.97 per share versus the anticipated $2.06 loss, while insiders have sold $6.3 million worth of shares over the past 90 days.

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 8.7% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $70.18 and last traded at $70.6680. 1,332,321 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 1,567,382 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PCVX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Zacks Research raised Vaxcyte from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Vaxcyte from $133.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 28th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Vaxcyte from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Six 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 8.6%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.56. The company has a market capitalization of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.27 and a beta of 1.23.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.06) by $0.09. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.22) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -8.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.89, for a total value of $538,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 105,176 shares in the company, valued at $5,667,934.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.74, for a total transaction of $1,648,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,860 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,416,576.40. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 92,890 shares of company stock worth $6,320,569 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the company's stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 143.4% in the second quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 345,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,064,000 after acquiring an additional 203,373 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Vaxcyte in the second quarter valued at about $1,906,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 72.8% in the second 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. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Vaxcyte by 4.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 33,755 shares of the company's stock worth $1,962,000 after buying an additional 1,394 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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