Baker BROS. Advisors LP Boosts Holdings in Kodiak Sciences Inc. $KOD

Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,919,186 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,608,696 shares during the quarter. Kodiak Sciences makes up 3.3% of Baker BROS. Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Baker BROS. Advisors LP owned approximately 37.55% of Kodiak Sciences worth $556,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KOD. Braidwell LP purchased a new position in Kodiak Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,955,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 298.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,303,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,433,000 after acquiring an additional 976,254 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Kodiak Sciences by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,732,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,427,000 after buying an additional 899,572 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Kodiak Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,389,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake 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 valued at $7,668,000 after purchasing an additional 730,000 shares during the period. 89.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on KOD shares. Chardan Capital upgraded shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kodiak Sciences from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kodiak Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Kodiak Sciences Price Performance

Kodiak Sciences stock opened at $35.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of -8.56 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.89. Kodiak Sciences Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.43 and a 12 month high of $47.84.

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.94) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.01). Equities research analysts anticipate that Kodiak Sciences Inc. will post -3.89 earnings per share for the current 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.