Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Down 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) shares dropped 3.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $47.43 and last traded at $46.95. Approximately 910,403 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 34% from the average daily volume of 1,383,667 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PCVX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vaxcyte currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.94 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.38.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.04) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jim Wassil sold 2,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.83, for a total value of $127,867.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 160,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,135,081.52. The trade was a 1.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Elvia Cowan sold 3,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 28,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,738,500. The trade was a 9.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,037 shares of company stock valued at $994,899. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,575,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,231,000 after buying an additional 3,188,687 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,320,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,783,000 after buying an additional 323,368 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,213,000 after buying an additional 2,981,038 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,966,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,286,000 after buying an additional 933,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,980,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,777,000 after buying an additional 194,116 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

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.