StockNews.com Downgrades Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) to Sell

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

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 stock opened at $1.88 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.34. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $2.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $410.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.91 and a beta of 0.74.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 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. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $79,000. 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,914,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,993,000 after purchasing an additional 262,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 9,037 shares in the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.