Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO)

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 20,471 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,560 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Akero Therapeutics were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AKRO. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 764.3% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Akero Therapeutics by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Akero Therapeutics by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 32,588.0% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 8,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optimize Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $232,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AKRO. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Akero Therapeutics from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $42.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Akero Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.29.

Akero Therapeutics Price Performance

AKRO opened at $39.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 17.25, a current ratio of 17.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.43. Akero Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.86 and a fifty-two week high of $58.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.63 and a beta of -0.12.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.98) by ($0.01). As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Akero Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Akero Therapeutics news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.73, for a total transaction of $1,581,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 686,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,176,049.26. The trade was a 4.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Catriona Yale sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction of $498,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 95,648 shares in the company, valued at $4,769,965.76. The trade was a 9.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 219,208 shares of company stock valued at $9,556,494. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.