Akebia Therapeutics’ (AKBA) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $7.50 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AKBA. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Down 5.9 %

AKBA stock opened at $1.77 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.80 and a 52-week high of $2.89. The firm has a market cap of $418.13 million, a P/E ratio of -7.70 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.85.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.36 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nicholas Grund sold 55,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $116,804.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 442,579 shares in the company, valued at $929,415.90. The trade was a 11.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value 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 $5,469,093. This trade represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,680,000 after acquiring an additional 813,902 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,795,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,112,000 after purchasing an additional 40,631 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,823,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,265,000 after purchasing an additional 105,727 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,641 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after buying an additional 50,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.