Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) Shares Up 6% – Here’s Why

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) shares were up 6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $28.50 and last traded at $29.10. Approximately 116,876 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 600,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KOD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $15.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Barclays raised Kodiak Sciences from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $7.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Lifesci Capital assumed coverage on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.67.

Kodiak Sciences Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.20 and a beta of 2.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.77.

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported ($1.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by ($0.09). On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kodiak Sciences Inc. will post -3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bros. Advisors Lp Baker acquired 2,608,696 shares of Kodiak Sciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.00 per share, with a total value of $60,000,008.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,358,772 shares in the company, valued at $422,251,756. This trade represents a 16.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 45.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 21.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 89.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 3,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Kodiak Sciences by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 79,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 4,703 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in Kodiak Sciences by 256.4% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 8,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 5,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Kodiak Sciences by 8.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 73,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 6,018 shares during the last quarter. 89.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Kodiak Sciences

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.