Wellington Management Group LLP Cuts Stake in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. $AKBA

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 75.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,955 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 536,790 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Akebia Therapeutics were worth $195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AKBA. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $2,280,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $22,784,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $706,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $105,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 22.4% during the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AKBA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partners lowered Akebia Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $1.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.50 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Erik Ostrowski sold 56,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.11, for a total value of $62,181.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 616,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $684,443.76. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $0.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $263.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.65 and a beta of 0.19. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.81 and a 12 month high of $3.20.

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

About Akebia Therapeutics

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for patients with kidney disease. The company’s lead product candidate, vadadustat, is an investigational oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor designed to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease in both dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis patients. Akebia’s research and development efforts also extend to preclinical programs targeting nephrology and related metabolic disorders.

Since its founding in 2007, Akebia has pursued strategic collaborations to advance its clinical pipeline and expand its market reach.