Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) CEO Grant Pickering Sells 16,198 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• CEO Grant Pickering sold 16,198 Vaxcyte shares at an average price of $55.63, generating approximately $901,095. The Rule 10b5-1 transaction reduced his direct holdings by 3.45% to 453,247 shares.
• Vaxcyte shares traded down 1.6% to $54.60, while the company reported a quarterly loss of $2.30 per share—worse than analysts’ expected loss of $1.74.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $86.00, despite several firms recently downgrading the stock to “Sell” or “Strong Sell.”

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) CEO Grant Pickering sold 16,198 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.63, for a total transaction of $901,094.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 453,247 shares in the company, valued at $25,214,130.61. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Grant Pickering also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 27th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.65, for a total transaction of $111,300.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.23, for a total value of $110,460.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Grant Pickering sold 22,237 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.21, for a total value of $1,227,704.77.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Grant Pickering sold 2,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $105,000.00.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of Vaxcyte stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $1,179,202.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ PCVX traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $54.60. 1,301,552 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,452,639. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.08 and a 1 year high of $65.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.71.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.04) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 156.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 597 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Vaxcyte by 1,463.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 641 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 148.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,222 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 22,500.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PCVX shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Vaxcyte from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.00.

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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