Akebia Therapeutics Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 3,386 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 303% compared to the average daily volume of 841 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akebia Therapeutics news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $106,062.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,714,091.40. This trade represents a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $63,424.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $588,520.80. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock valued at $589,216 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mariner LLC bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. PDS Planning Inc bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AKBA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Akebia Therapeutics stock opened at $2.26 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.78. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.48. The company has a market capitalization of $493.09 million, a PE ratio of -9.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $46.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.36 million. On average, analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.