Short Interest in Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) Expands By 8.1%

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the December 15th total of 1,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 419,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kodiak Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KOD. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 7,871 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 220.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 44,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 30,735 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 65.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 79,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 31,527 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 768,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,007,000 after acquiring an additional 12,783 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 816,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,131,000 after acquiring an additional 14,711 shares during the period. 89.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on KOD. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Kodiak Sciences from $3.00 to $4.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $3.00 price objective on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Kodiak Sciences Price Performance

KOD stock opened at $7.17 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $7.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.68. Kodiak Sciences has a one year low of $2.18 and a one year high of $11.60. The stock has a market cap of $377.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.96 and a beta of 2.11.

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.