StockNews.com Upgrades Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) to “Hold”

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Separately, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AKBA opened at $2.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1.67 and a 200-day moving average of $1.39. The company has a market cap of $440.72 million, a PE ratio of -8.78 and a beta of 0.70. Akebia Therapeutics has a one year low of $0.80 and a one year high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $37.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. Analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 683,287 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,225,972 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $15,054,000 after purchasing an additional 618,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 3,122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 604,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 585,789 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $534,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,914,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,993,000 after acquiring an additional 262,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.