Short Interest in Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) Increases By 8.7%

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, an increase of 8.7% from the July 31st total of 2,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 4.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KOD. UBS Group downgraded shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Chardan Capital downgraded shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Capital One Financial cut shares of Kodiak Sciences from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $7.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KOD. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 56.4% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 205,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after buying an additional 73,940 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 70,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 14,230 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Kodiak Sciences by 243.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 20,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 14,436 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Kodiak Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $92,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Kodiak Sciences by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 505,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after purchasing an additional 103,052 shares during the last quarter. 80.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kodiak Sciences Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ KOD opened at $2.20 on Friday. Kodiak Sciences has a 12 month low of $2.18 and a 12 month high of $11.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.40 million, a PE ratio of -0.39 and a beta of 1.68. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.57.

About Kodiak Sciences

Kodiak Sciences Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat retinal diseases. Its lead product candidate is tarcocimab tedromer (KSI-301), an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibody biopolymer that is in Phase IIb/III clinical study to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as well as Phase III clinical study for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, naïve macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion, and non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.