Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Shares in Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. $STOK

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STOK) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 45,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,062,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Stoke Therapeutics by 66.2% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Stoke Therapeutics by 461.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 3,591 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Stoke Therapeutics by 263.3% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 7,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 5,427 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its position in shares of Stoke Therapeutics by 33.2% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 9,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,384 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its stake in shares of Stoke Therapeutics by 131.6% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 13,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the last quarter.

Stoke Therapeutics Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ STOK opened at $30.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.33. Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $5.35 and a twelve month high of $38.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on STOK. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group set a $50.00 price objective on Stoke Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Stoke Therapeutics from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Chardan Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Stoke Therapeutics from $24.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.18.

Insider Transactions at Stoke Therapeutics

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan Allan sold 8,785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.29, for a total transaction of $274,882.65. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 15,809 shares in the company, valued at $494,663.61. This represents a 35.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Edward M. Md Kaye sold 13,430 shares of Stoke Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.27, for a total value of $433,386.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 49,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,585,231.48. The trade was a 21.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,826,430. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Stoke Therapeutics Profile

Stoke Therapeutics, headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing genetic medicines to upregulate protein production for the treatment of rare neuromuscular and neurological disorders. Founded in 2014, the company applies its proprietary Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene Output (TANGO™) platform to design antisense oligonucleotides that selectively modulate RNA splicing and enhance expression of functional proteins.

The company’s lead program, STK-001, is an antisense oligonucleotide therapy designed to increase production of the sodium channel protein SCN1A and is currently in clinical development for Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood-onset epilepsy.