Barclays PLC Purchases 200,482 Shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 276.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 200,482 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Akebia Therapeutics were worth $360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 40.7% during the second 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 period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 25.7% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 68,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 13,907 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 205.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 31,137 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 117.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,965 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 38,821 shares during the period. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $1.92 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.51. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $0.80 and a twelve month high of $2.48. The stock has a market cap of $418.91 million, a PE ratio of -8.35 and a beta of 0.72.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AKBA has been the subject of several research reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th.

Akebia Therapeutics 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.