Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $2.50 and last traded at $2.47, with a volume of 2161320 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $2.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AKBA shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $444.00 million, a P/E ratio of -8.85 and a beta of 0.94.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.36 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at $5,469,093. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Grund sold 55,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $116,804.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 442,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,415.90. The trade was a 11.16 % decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mariner LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. PDS Planning Inc purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other 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.