Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Purchased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,869,332 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 82,997 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 2.30% of Vaxcyte worth $234,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vaxcyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 188.4% during 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. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Vaxcyte by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 742 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the 3rd quarter valued at about $92,000. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PCVX. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Vaxcyte from $140.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Vaxcyte from $157.00 to $137.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Vaxcyte from $138.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Vaxcyte to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $136.50.

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Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total transaction of $692,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 109,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,472,066.41. This represents a 6.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.11, for a total transaction of $531,937.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,664.25. This represents a 46.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,170,738. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vaxcyte Stock Up 3.4 %

PCVX stock traded up $1.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.60. 5,690,652 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,119,961. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 1.26. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.57 and a 52 week high of $121.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.66.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.14. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current fiscal 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.