Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,680,000 shares, a decline of 6.0% from the September 30th total of 18,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 40.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,221 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 9,037 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 1.8 %

AKBA opened at $1.69 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.29. The company has a market cap of $355.39 million, a PE ratio of -8.05 and a beta of 0.77. Akebia Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.80 and a 52 week high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $43.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

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.