Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Separately, HC Wainwright raised their target price on Akebia Therapeutics from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Down 1.6 %

AKBA opened at $1.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $259.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.43 and a beta of 0.79. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.78 and a 1 year high of $2.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.35.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $56.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, CEO John P. Butler sold 46,570 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total value of $73,580.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,044,580 shares in the company, valued at $3,230,436.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO John P. Butler sold 46,570 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.58, for a total value of $73,580.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,044,580 shares in the company, valued at $3,230,436.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 37,733 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.52, for a total value of $57,354.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,091,150 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,548. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 117,093 shares of company stock worth $181,654. Company insiders own 3.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at about $1,447,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 14.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 755,488 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $861,000 after acquiring an additional 93,590 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $248,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 311,608.2% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 152,737 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 152,688 shares during the period. Finally, Orchard Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Orchard Capital Management LLC now owns 86,826 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.