Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.50.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AKRO. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on Akero Therapeutics from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on Akero Therapeutics from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Activity at Akero Therapeutics

In other Akero Therapeutics news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total transaction of $1,056,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 624,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,994,934.52. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jonathan Young sold 1,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $79,682.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 196,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,781,214.96. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 232,979 shares of company stock worth $10,935,650 in the last three months. 7.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AKRO. RTW Investments LP boosted its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 6,859,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,840,000 after purchasing an additional 940,388 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP boosted its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 1,490,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,452,000 after buying an additional 800,216 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Akero Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $18,059,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Akero Therapeutics by 93.3% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,155,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,786,000 after acquiring an additional 557,794 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Akero Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $21,333,000.

Akero Therapeutics Trading Up 2.1%

NASDAQ AKRO opened at $55.04 on Thursday. Akero Therapeutics has a one year low of $21.02 and a one year high of $58.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 16.80 and a current ratio of 16.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of -28.23 and a beta of -0.16.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.01) by $1.91. On average, equities analysts forecast that Akero Therapeutics will post -3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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.