Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 1,828 Shares of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. $AKRO

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) by 13.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,977 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Akero Therapeutics were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 19.0% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 15.6% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Akero Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 8,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AKRO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Akero Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Akero Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a report on Monday, August 4th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Akero Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.38.

Akero Therapeutics Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of AKRO opened at $54.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of -27.02 and a beta of -0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.21 and its 200 day moving average is $49.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 12.66 and a current ratio of 12.66. Akero Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.34 and a fifty-two week high of $58.40.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The company reported ($0.99) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.94) by ($0.05). Sell-side analysts expect that Akero Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akero Therapeutics

In other Akero Therapeutics news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.25, for a total transaction of $1,297,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 475,698 shares in the company, valued at $20,573,938.50. This represents a 5.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Timothy Rolph sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.17, for a total value of $552,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 167,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,381,867.08. The trade was a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 156,753 shares of company stock worth $7,456,064 in the last 90 days. 7.07% of the stock is currently 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.