Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. $AKBA Shares Purchased by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 21.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,180,759 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 210,925 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.45% of Akebia Therapeutics worth $4,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Savant Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $69,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Ethic Inc. increased its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 243.8% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 40,538 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 28,748 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 540.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 22,633 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 19,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 11.1% in the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 50,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AKBA. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $10.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. HC Wainwright lowered their price target on Akebia Therapeutics from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $1.76 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1.52 and a 52 week high of $4.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $2.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.09. The company has a market cap of $466.66 million, a P/E ratio of -10.35 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

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.