Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Stock

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) had its price target upped by analysts at Piper Sandler from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target suggests a potential upside of 182.35% from the stock’s current price.

AKBA has been the topic of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ AKBA traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $2.13. The company had a trading volume of 5,090,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,478,416. The company has a market capitalization of $463.63 million, a PE ratio of -9.24 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $2.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.78. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.80 and a 12-month high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 280,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $588,520.80. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,469,093. This trade represents 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 valued at $589,216 over the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AKBA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,680,000 after purchasing an additional 813,902 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 683,287 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $534,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 357,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 117.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 543,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 294,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

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.