Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Brokerages

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.63.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AKBA shares. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 3rd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Akebia Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 price target on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mariner LLC bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Unified Investment Management increased its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 47.8% during the 1st quarter. Unified Investment Management now owns 17,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company's stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $2.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,960,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,913,195. The company has a market capitalization of $766.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.70 and a beta of 0.88. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $2.97. The stock's 50-day moving average is $2.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.06.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $57.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.88 million. Equities analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.