First Light Asset Management LLC Acquires 79,445 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 131.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 139,729 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,445 shares during the quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC owned about 0.13% of Vaxcyte worth $10,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,737,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284,883 shares in the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,203,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,398,000 after buying an additional 312,500 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,673,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,117,000 after acquiring an additional 692,492 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Vaxcyte by 20.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,140,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,839,000 after purchasing an additional 700,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,176,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,966,000 after buying an additional 498,359 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 1,667 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.37, for a total value of $127,308.79. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,826 shares in the company, valued at $2,354,181.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Vaxcyte news, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 1,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.37, for a total value of $127,308.79. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,354,181.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 2,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.33, for a total value of $199,679.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 143,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,948,622.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,283 shares of company stock worth $7,064,138 in the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PCVX. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on Vaxcyte from $101.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $106.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Vaxcyte from $108.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $113.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $112.11 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.70. The firm has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.19 and a beta of 0.97. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.20 and a 52 week high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($1.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.14) by $0.04. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.70) EPS. Analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vaxcyte

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.