HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.50 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 215.13% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $2.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $519.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.35 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.62. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealth Effects LLC lifted its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 32,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,221 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 9,037 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 98,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,662 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 68,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 13,907 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted 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 valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 31,137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.