ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of ProKidney Corp. (NASDAQ:PROK) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $4.00 to $3.00. The stock had previously closed at $2.40, but opened at $2.31. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. ProKidney shares last traded at $2.38, with a volume of 43,155 shares.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on ProKidney from $15.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital bought 8,264,462 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.42 per share, with a total value of $19,999,998.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 71,560,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $173,175,458.94. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other ProKidney news, Director Pablo G. Legorreta purchased 22,617,909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.42 per share, with a total value of $54,735,339.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,617,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,735,339.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Control Empresarial De Capital purchased 8,264,462 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.42 per share, for a total transaction of $19,999,998.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 71,560,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $173,175,458.94. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 41.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in ProKidney by 8.8% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 76,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 6,181 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. bought a new position in ProKidney in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in ProKidney in the second quarter valued at about $50,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in ProKidney in the second quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in ProKidney in the second quarter valued at about $106,000. 51.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ProKidney Stock Down 9.2 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.31. The company has a market cap of $499.97 million, a P/E ratio of -3.82 and a beta of 1.10.

ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.01. On average, equities analysts predict that ProKidney Corp. will post -0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.