Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 547,878 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the previous session’s volume of 867,590 shares.The stock last traded at $87.06 and had previously closed at $92.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PCVX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Vaxcyte from $106.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $98.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $108.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a PE ratio of -18.88 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $110.67 and its 200-day moving average is $88.65.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.83) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.27. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.91) EPS. Analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vaxcyte

In other Vaxcyte news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.94, for a total value of $927,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 90,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,479,005.02. This trade represents a 8.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 5,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $546,350.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,623 shares in the company, valued at $3,127,635.21. This trade represents a 14.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 117,464 shares of company stock valued at $12,640,276 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,921,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,247,954,000 after buying an additional 2,052,989 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 15.2% in the first 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 during the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Vaxcyte by 5.9% in the third quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,689,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $992,914,000 after acquiring an additional 485,436 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,140,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,839,000 after acquiring an additional 700,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,405,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,174,000 after purchasing an additional 38,596 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.