ProKidney’s (PROK) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $7.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $6.00. Guggenheim’s target price suggests a potential upside of 87.67% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Bank of America cut ProKidney from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $3.00 to $1.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 target price (up previously from $6.00) on shares of ProKidney in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised ProKidney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.25.

ProKidney Trading Up 10.7%

NASDAQ PROK traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $3.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,443,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,541,721. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.20. ProKidney has a 52 week low of $0.46 and a 52 week high of $7.13. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -6.22 and a beta of 1.26.

ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $0.23 million during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that ProKidney will post -0.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Darin J. Weber sold 103,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.02, for a total value of $312,509.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Control Empresarial De Capital bought 387,393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $0.71 per share, for a total transaction of $275,049.03. Following the purchase, the insider owned 73,842,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,428,333.33. This trade represents a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 41.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ProKidney

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ProKidney by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 30,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 11,250 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of ProKidney during the fourth quarter worth approximately $69,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of ProKidney during the fourth quarter worth approximately $88,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ProKidney by 106.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 27,098 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in ProKidney by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 54,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 18,431 shares during the period. 51.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ProKidney

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease.