Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) PT Raised to $6.00 at HC Wainwright

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) had its target price boosted by HC Wainwright from $5.00 to $6.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 227.87% from the company’s previous close.

AKBA has been the topic of several other reports. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 29th. StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $1.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $383.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.54 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.30. Akebia Therapeutics has a one year low of $0.49 and a one year high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04). The company had revenue of $56.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In other Akebia Therapeutics news, CEO John P. Butler sold 46,489 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total value of $78,101.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,128,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,576,523.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Akebia Therapeutics news, CEO John P. Butler sold 46,489 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total value of $78,101.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,128,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,576,523.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 24,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total value of $40,842.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 711,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,111.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 187,893 shares of company stock valued at $300,598. 3.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AKBA. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 65.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 5,354,175 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,891,000 after buying an additional 2,124,161 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 103.5% in the third quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,016,427 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $954,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,127 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 162.7% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,042,816 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,199 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,402,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,319 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 367.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 862,168 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 677,703 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 adult patients.