Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on AKBA. Zacks Research upgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Leerink Partners downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $1.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, August 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Akebia Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.90.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $0.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $0.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.54 and a 1 year high of $2.15.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Akebia Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 13.54% and a negative return on equity of 88.88%. The business had revenue of $49.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.85 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at about $22,784,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 22.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,763,362 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,841,000 after purchasing an additional 505,951 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,280,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 32.6% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 839,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 206,476 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

About Akebia Therapeutics

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for patients with kidney disease and related conditions. The company’s primary areas of interest include anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), iron deficiency, and disorders involving mineral metabolism.

Akebia’s key product is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor designed to stimulate the body’s natural production of erythropoietin and support red blood cell formation.