Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday.

AKBA has been the topic of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AKBA stock opened at $2.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $619.63 million, a P/E ratio of -12.35 and a beta of 0.94. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.80 and a 1-year high of $2.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.81.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.36 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $63,424.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares in the company, valued at $588,520.80. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $302,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,469,093. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 in the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,680,000 after buying an additional 813,902 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,795,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,112,000 after buying an additional 40,631 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,823,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,265,000 after buying an additional 105,727 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,528,000 after buying an additional 683,287 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,641 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after buying an additional 50,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

About Akebia Therapeutics

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.