Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) was upgraded by stock analysts at Evercore ISI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PCVX. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.50.

Vaxcyte Trading Up 4.5 %

PCVX opened at $33.69 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.32 and a beta of 1.02. Vaxcyte has a 12 month low of $30.12 and a 12 month high of $121.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.84.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vaxcyte will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,664.25. This represents a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total value of $689,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 205,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,735,022.90. This trade represents a 3.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,170,738. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vaxcyte

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 105,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,600,000 after purchasing an additional 15,616 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter worth $8,487,000. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter worth $255,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Vaxcyte by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 472,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,717,000 after acquiring an additional 64,690 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

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.