Guggenheim Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) Stock

ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Guggenheim from $6.00 to $7.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Guggenheim’s target price indicates a potential upside of 107.72% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on PROK. Wall Street Zen upgraded ProKidney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America downgraded ProKidney from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $3.00 to $1.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (up previously from $6.00) on shares of ProKidney in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.25.

ProKidney Trading Down 8.7%

PROK opened at $3.37 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.20. ProKidney has a 12 month low of $0.46 and a 12 month high of $7.13. The firm has a market cap of $986.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.62 and a beta of 1.26.

ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $0.23 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ProKidney will post -0.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital acquired 387,393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $0.71 per share, for a total transaction of $275,049.03. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 73,842,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,428,333.33. The trade was a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Darin J. Weber sold 103,480 shares of ProKidney stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.02, for a total transaction of $312,509.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 41.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ProKidney

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in ProKidney by 4.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 239,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 9,903 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ProKidney by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 759,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 10,069 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in ProKidney by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 30,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 11,250 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in ProKidney by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 539,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 16,538 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in ProKidney by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 54,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 18,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.59% of the company’s stock.

ProKidney Company Profile

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease.