Bank of America Begins Coverage on Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO)

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Akero Therapeutics from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Akero Therapeutics from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Akero Therapeutics has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $37.71.

Akero Therapeutics Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of AKRO opened at $20.26 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.11 and a beta of -0.38. Akero Therapeutics has a one year low of $11.25 and a one year high of $58.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 29.27 and a current ratio of 29.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.98.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by ($0.17). Sell-side analysts forecast that Akero Therapeutics will post -4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Akero Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.87, for a total transaction of $2,465,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 591,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,439,843.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.87, for a total value of $2,465,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 591,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,439,843.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Catriona Yale sold 20,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $732,726.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 78,415 shares in the company, valued at $2,782,948.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 100,646 shares of company stock worth $3,319,877. 9.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akero Therapeutics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in Akero Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $83,891,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 247.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,881,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053,028 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 154.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 779,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,409,000 after purchasing an additional 472,898 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 3,100.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 441,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,310,000 after purchasing an additional 427,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 225.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 500,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,302,000 after purchasing an additional 346,317 shares in the last quarter.

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.