Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $69.46, but opened at $33.07. Vaxcyte shares last traded at $33.56, with a volume of 2,578,445 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Vaxcyte Trading Up 3.4 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 1.26. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $75.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.42.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 EPS for the current year.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PCVX. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Vaxcyte during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,433,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Vaxcyte by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,163,000 after buying an additional 4,962 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 413,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,860,000 after buying an additional 144,516 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 186.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,702 shares of the company's stock worth $6,022,000 after buying an additional 34,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Vaxcyte by 70.8% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 593,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,418,000 after acquiring an additional 246,049 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.78% of the company's stock.

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.