Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Shares Bought by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 586,710 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,043 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Akebia Therapeutics were worth $1,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at $59,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $104,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 682,038 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 140,529 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 205.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 31,137 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 25.7% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 68,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 13,907 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AKBA shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AKBA opened at $1.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $451.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.30 and a beta of 0.94. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $0.80 and a 52 week high of $2.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $2.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.84.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the company’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 $106,062.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. This represents a 5.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the 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 $302,925.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at $5,469,093. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.10% 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.