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

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $140.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 36.32% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Vaxcyte from $101.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $108.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Leerink Partners raised their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $106.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $113.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on Vaxcyte from $98.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

NASDAQ PCVX opened at $102.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.81. Vaxcyte has a 52-week low of $46.16 and a 52-week high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.27. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.91) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.80, for a total value of $854,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 205,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,968,226. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.82, for a total transaction of $1,602,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 435,219 shares in the company, valued at $46,490,093.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.80, for a total value of $854,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 205,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,968,226. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,098 shares of company stock valued at $12,394,473 in the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte during the third quarter worth $27,000. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Vaxcyte in the first quarter worth about $37,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Vaxcyte by 33.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 649.4% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 607 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 526 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.