Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Purchased by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 83.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 775,653 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 352,155 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.62% of Vaxcyte worth $63,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Vaxcyte by 188.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 742 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Shares of PCVX stock opened at $31.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 1.27. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $121.06. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.72.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.04) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.02) by ($0.02). During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.85) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PCVX shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Vaxcyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $136.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total value of $586,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 154,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,351,794.37. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vaxcyte 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.