Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its position in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 31.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,537 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,160 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 188.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Vaxcyte by 100.0% during the fourth 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. grew its position in Vaxcyte by 77,500.0% during 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. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Vaxcyte in the third quarter valued at about $92,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Vaxcyte in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vaxcyte has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PCVX opened at $71.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.63 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.33. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.10 and a 52-week high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.14. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vaxcyte news, COO Jim Wassil sold 8,000 shares of Vaxcyte stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.27, for a total value of $586,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 154,931 shares in the company, valued at $11,351,794.37. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Teri Loxam sold 6,250 shares of the company’s 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 46,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,840,018. Company insiders own 3.10% 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.