Akero Therapeutics price target lowered to $36 from $60 at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI analyst Liisa Bayko lowered the firm’s price target on Akero Therapeutics to $36 from $60 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Data from Akero’s SYMMETRY study of efruxifermin in NASH “hinted at a trend towards reversal of cirrhosis,” but missed “the outright win (or very strong trend) that would have sent the stock in the opposite direction of where it landed” yesterday, the analyst tells investors. If the drug works in cirrhosis, and “trends suggest it’s a possibility,” it is going to take another year to find out from the 96-week biopsy data and the cirrhosis thesis is “going to take longer to play out,” the analyst added.