Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) Short Interest Down 30.3% in October

Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,720,000 shares, a decline of 30.3% from the September 30th total of 6,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 500,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.4 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akero Therapeutics news, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 63,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.53, for a total transaction of $2,003,384.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 605,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,088,798.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jonathan Young sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $133,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 241,854 shares in the company, valued at $6,469,594.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Andrew Cheng sold 63,539 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.53, for a total transaction of $2,003,384.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,417 shares in the company, valued at $19,088,798.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,315 shares of company stock worth $7,440,170. Company insiders own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 42.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,121,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,569 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 10.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,060,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,569,000 after purchasing an additional 384,555 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 19.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,669,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,702,000 after purchasing an additional 584,875 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 14.6% in the first quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,713,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,536,000 after purchasing an additional 344,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redmile Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 67.5% in the first quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 1,858,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,951,000 after buying an additional 749,226 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Akero Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.20.

Akero Therapeutics Stock Performance

AKRO traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.33. The stock had a trading volume of 403,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 880,016. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.46. Akero Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $11.25 and a 12 month high of $37.00. The company has a current ratio of 24.89, a quick ratio of 24.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of -9.17 and a beta of -0.25.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by $0.09. Analysts expect that Akero Therapeutics will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Akero Therapeutics Company 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.