Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $26.00, but opened at $27.95. Kodiak Sciences shares last traded at $28.2410, with a volume of 141,605 shares traded.

Specifically, Director Bros. Advisors Lp Baker purchased 2,608,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $23.00 per share, with a total value of $60,000,008.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,358,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $422,251,756. This represents a 16.56% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Lifesci Capital started coverage on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Chardan Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a report on Monday, November 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Kodiak Sciences from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.67.

Kodiak Sciences Stock Up 6.1%

The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.85 and a beta of 2.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.43.

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported ($1.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.07) by ($0.09). On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kodiak Sciences Inc. will post -3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Kodiak Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KOD. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 2,691 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Kodiak Sciences by 89.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 3,009 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 6.3% in the second 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 256.4% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 8,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Kodiak Sciences by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 73,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 6,018 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.06% of the company’s stock.

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.