Akero Therapeutics’ (AKRO) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 86.78% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Akero Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.13.

Akero Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AKRO opened at $26.77 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 24.89, a quick ratio of 24.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.94. Akero Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $11.25 and a twelve month high of $53.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of -8.37 and a beta of -0.26.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by $0.09. Research analysts anticipate that Akero Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jonathan Young sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total value of $117,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 246,854 shares in the company, valued at $5,776,383.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jonathan Young sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total value of $117,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 246,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,776,383.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 1,738 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.18, for a total value of $45,500.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 605,417 shares in the company, valued at $15,849,817.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 276,686 shares of company stock worth $7,504,883. Insiders own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akero Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AKRO. RTW Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $83,891,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 247.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,881,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053,028 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 42.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,121,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,569 shares during the period. Redmile Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 67.5% in the 1st quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 1,858,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,951,000 after purchasing an additional 749,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,669,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,702,000 after buying an additional 584,875 shares during the period.

Akero Therapeutics Company Profile

Akero Therapeutics, Inc, together with its subsidiary, engages in the development of treatments for patients with serious metabolic diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is efruxifermin (EFX), which is in Phase 3 clinical trials that protects against cellular stress and regulates the metabolism of lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins throughout the body for the treatment of biopsy-confirmed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) patients.