Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AKBA. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $1.55 on Thursday. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $2.89. The company has a market capitalization of $366.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.74 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.86.

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 firm had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.36 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $106,062.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 816,234 shares in the company, valued at $1,714,091.40. The trade was a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,469,093. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 over the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 200,482 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $534,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 205.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 31,137 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $58,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 683,287 shares during 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.