Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 34,287 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 186.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 52,702 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,287 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $6,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Vaxcyte by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,737,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284,883 shares during the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.0% in the first quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,203,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,398,000 after purchasing an additional 312,500 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 9.9% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,673,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,117,000 after purchasing an additional 692,492 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 20.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,140,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,839,000 after purchasing an additional 700,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 18.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,176,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,966,000 after buying an additional 498,359 shares during the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $98.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Vaxcyte from $101.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Vaxcyte from $113.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Vaxcyte from $106.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Vaxcyte from $108.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of PCVX opened at $85.96 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $108.95 and a 200 day moving average of $89.11. The company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a PE ratio of -18.69 and a beta of 1.01. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.24 and a 52-week high of $121.06.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.27. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.91) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vaxcyte

In related news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 2,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.89, for a total transaction of $245,803.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 137,398 shares in the company, valued at $14,274,278.22. The trade was a 1.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.67, for a total transaction of $538,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,369,885.41. This trade represents a 28.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 117,464 shares of company stock worth $12,640,276 in the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.