Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

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

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of AKBA opened at $1.90 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $414.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.26 and a beta of 0.70. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $2.48. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.50.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $37.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AKBA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 3,122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 604,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 585,789 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 4,915.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 247,060 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 242,134 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 7.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,914,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,993,000 after acquiring an additional 262,700 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,221 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 9,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. 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.