Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Given Buy Rating at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.50 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 33.7 %

Akebia Therapeutics stock opened at $2.26 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.80 and a 12-month high of $2.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $2.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.78. The stock has a market cap of $493.09 million, a PE ratio of -9.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.36 million. As a group, analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the company’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 $302,925.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,604,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,469,093. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the company’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 value of $106,062.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 816,234 shares in the company, valued at $1,714,091.40. The trade was a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 280,579 shares of company stock valued at $589,216 over the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 200,482 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $534,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew 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 worth $61,000 after buying an additional 31,137 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $58,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,528,000 after buying an additional 683,287 shares in 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.