Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) Shares Up 10.9% – Should You Buy?

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD)’s share price was up 10.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.14 and last traded at $27.2590. Approximately 119,398 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 708,119 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Chardan Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research report on Monday, November 17th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kodiak Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.29.

Kodiak Sciences Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.78 and a 200 day moving average of $18.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of -6.52 and a beta of 2.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bros. Advisors Lp Baker acquired 2,608,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $23.00 per share, for a total transaction of $60,000,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,358,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,251,756. This trade represents a 16.56% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 45.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KOD. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,969,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,343,000 after acquiring an additional 23,742 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in Kodiak Sciences by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Kodiak Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $488,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kodiak Sciences by 28.5% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 29,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kodiak Sciences during the third quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.06% of the company’s stock.

Kodiak Sciences Company Profile

Kodiak Sciences, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel therapies for retinal diseases. The company’s proprietary technology centers on antibody biopolymer conjugates (ABCs), which are designed to extend durability, enhance tissue penetration and improve the safety profile of existing therapeutic modalities. Kodiak’s research and development efforts target conditions such as wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and other serious ophthalmic disorders.

The lead product candidate in Kodiak’s pipeline is KSI-301, an anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate administered via intravitreal injection.