Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Stock Position in Kodiak Sciences Inc. $KOD

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) by 32.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,325,457 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 325,457 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Kodiak Sciences were worth $50,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KOD. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its stake in Kodiak Sciences by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 19,919,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,608,696 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Kodiak Sciences by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,313,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,683,000 after acquiring an additional 363,103 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP acquired a new position in Kodiak Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at $57,955,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 55.1% during the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,055,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,668,000 after purchasing an additional 730,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,732,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,427,000 after purchasing an additional 899,572 shares during the last quarter. 89.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KOD has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a report on Friday, July 10th. Chardan Capital upgraded Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Kodiak Sciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kodiak Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Kodiak Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KOD opened at $41.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.97 and a beta of 2.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.87. Kodiak Sciences Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.21 and a 1-year high of $47.84.

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.94) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.01). Sell-side analysts expect that Kodiak Sciences Inc. will post -3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kodiak Sciences 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.