Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) COO Jonathan Young Sells 50,000 Shares of Stock

Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRO) COO Jonathan Young sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.86, for a total transaction of $2,243,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 201,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,023,454.42. This trade represents a 19.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Jonathan Young also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, February 3rd, Jonathan Young sold 10,000 shares of Akero Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total transaction of $538,100.00.
• On Thursday, January 2nd, Jonathan Young sold 10,000 shares of Akero Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $280,300.00.
• On Tuesday, December 10th, Jonathan Young sold 2,503 shares of Akero Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.79, for a total transaction of $77,067.37.

Akero Therapeutics Trading Up 1.3 %

AKRO opened at $45.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 17.25 and a quick ratio of 17.25. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.03 and a beta of -0.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.00. Akero Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.86 and a fifty-two week high of $58.40.

Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.99) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.98) by ($0.01). On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Akero Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AKRO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $46.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Akero Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $42.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Akero Therapeutics from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akero Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 54.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,896,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,782,029 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Akero Therapeutics by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,077,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,053,000 after purchasing an additional 201,225 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 6,859,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,840,000 after buying an additional 940,388 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,321,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,238,000 after buying an additional 513,613 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Akero Therapeutics by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,704,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,057,000 after buying an additional 27,830 shares during the period.

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.