Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Receives “Buy” Rating from BTIG Research

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at BTIG Research in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $4.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective points to a potential upside of 315.41% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $1.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.90.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AKBA opened at $0.96 on Tuesday. Akebia Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $0.81 and a twelve month high of $3.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $266.83 million, a PE ratio of -8.75 and a beta of 0.19.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $49.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.85 million. Akebia Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 88.88% and a negative net margin of 13.54%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Erik Ostrowski sold 56,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.11, for a total value of $62,181.09. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 616,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $684,443.76. This trade represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AKBA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,784,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 22.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,763,362 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,841,000 after purchasing an additional 505,951 shares in the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $2,280,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 32.6% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 839,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 206,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Company Profile

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing treatments for patients with kidney disease and related conditions. The company’s research and commercial activities center on therapies intended to address anemia associated with chronic kidney disease, iron deficiency, and other complications affecting people with impaired kidney function.

Akebia’s lead product is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor approved in the United States for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease in adults on dialysis.