Akebia Therapeutics’ (AKBA) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.50 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 33.7 %

AKBA stock opened at $2.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $2.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.79. The stock has a market cap of $493.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.83 and a beta of 0.94. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.36 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $106,062.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. The trade was a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $63,424.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 280,579 shares of company stock valued at $589,216. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AKBA. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Mariner LLC acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 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 patients.