HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $7.50 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

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

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Akebia Therapeutics stock opened at $2.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $2.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.79.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its 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 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 forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, insider Nicholas Grund sold 55,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $116,804.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 442,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,415.90. This trade represents a 11.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 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 value of $302,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,469,093. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock valued at $589,216 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AKBA. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Mariner LLC acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.