Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Separately, HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Akebia Therapeutics from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Down 2.2 %

AKBA stock opened at $1.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $284.75 million, a P/E ratio of -4.86 and a beta of 0.79. Akebia Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $0.59 and a twelve month high of $2.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.33.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $56.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John P. Butler sold 46,489 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO John P. Butler sold 46,489 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 24,311 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total value of $40,842.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 711,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,195,111.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 187,893 shares of company stock valued at $300,598 over the last three months. 3.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Compass Ion Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $46,000. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $51,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,607,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,433,000 after acquiring an additional 86,155 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $88,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $74,000. Hedge funds and other 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.