Insider Selling: Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CAO Sells 15,000 Shares of Stock

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA - Get Free Report) CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.01, for a total transaction of $60,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 266,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,070,325.14. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Down 2.5%

NASDAQ AKBA traded down $0.09 on Friday, reaching $3.56. The company had a trading volume of 6,471,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,195,030. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $2.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $934.98 million, a PE ratio of -15.48 and a beta of 0.85. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $4.08.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $57.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.88 million. On average, research analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 117.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 543,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 294,343 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 502,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $954,000 after buying an additional 97,409 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 126,380 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 12,232 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 181,048 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 70,663 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,795,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $9,112,000 after purchasing an additional 40,631 shares during the period. 33.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AKBA shares. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Akebia Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright initiated coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $6.75.

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.