Eventide Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 200,534 Akero Therapeutics, Inc. $AKRO

Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 200,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,119,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. EcoR1 Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Akero Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $17,811,000. Allostery Investments LP bought a new position in Akero Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $729,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Akero Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $7,894,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 88.2% during the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 71,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,880,000 after acquiring an additional 33,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 479.2% during the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 174,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,082,000 after acquiring an additional 144,752 shares during the period.

Akero Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Akero Therapeutics stock opened at $44.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.02 and a beta of -0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 12.66, a current ratio of 12.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.76. Akero Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.34 and a 52 week high of $58.40.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.86) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.97) by $0.11. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.81) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Akero Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AKRO. Cowen started coverage on Akero Therapeutics in a report on Monday, August 4th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on Akero Therapeutics from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. HC Wainwright began coverage on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Akero Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Akero Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.14.

Insider Activity at Akero Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 37,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.05, for a total transaction of $2,045,089.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 556,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,078,122.35. This represents a 6.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jonathan Young sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.79, for a total transaction of $597,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 197,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,437,760.36. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,406 shares of company stock worth $10,144,055 over the last ninety days. 7.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Akero Therapeutics 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.