Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) posted its earnings results on Friday. The company reported ($0.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.98) by ($0.01), Zacks reports.

Akero Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AKRO traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 311,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,557,011. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.88 and a beta of -0.11. Akero Therapeutics has a one year low of $17.86 and a one year high of $58.40. The company has a current ratio of 17.25, a quick ratio of 17.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.34.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AKRO. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Akero Therapeutics from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded Akero Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $35.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Akero Therapeutics from $50.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $46.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.09, for a total transaction of $802,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,427,831.53. This represents a 3.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Catriona Yale sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $498,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 95,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,769,965.76. This trade represents a 9.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 208,992 shares of company stock worth $9,633,413. 7.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Akero Therapeutics

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.