Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Sells 44,200 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Free Report) by 45.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 44,200 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.'s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $6,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the first quarter valued at about $405,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the second quarter valued at approximately $202,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 649.4% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 607 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte in the second quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the second quarter valued at $342,000. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Mikhail Eydelman sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total value of $546,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,623 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,127,635.21. The trade was a 14.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.45, for a total value of $1,386,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 450,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,630,327.45. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,464 shares of company stock worth $11,924,596 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vaxcyte Stock Performance

Vaxcyte stock traded down $3.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $90.04. 1,154,102 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 907,190. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.41 and a 52 week high of $121.06. The firm has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of -19.57 and a beta of 0.94. The company's fifty day moving average is $103.85 and its 200-day moving average is $90.72.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.27. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.91) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCVX has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Vaxcyte from $101.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $98.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $113.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $147.50.

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.