Akebia Therapeutics Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 3,386 call options on the company. This is an increase of 303% compared to the typical volume of 841 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $106,062.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. This represents a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $302,925.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at $5,469,093. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. PDS Planning Inc bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Mariner LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AKBA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of AKBA stock traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2.16. 6,379,562 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,504,769. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.48. The firm has a market cap of $470.18 million, a P/E ratio of -9.37 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.78.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.36 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Akebia Therapeutics Company Profile

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney diseases. The company’s lead product investigational product candidate is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, which is in Phase III development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis dependent patients.