Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Coverage Initiated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA - Free Report) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $8.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on AKBA. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 3rd. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Akebia Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $6.75.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:AKBA traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.69. 5,722,181 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,047,326. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $3.77. The company has a market capitalization of $969.13 million, a PE ratio of -16.04 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.14.

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

Insider Transactions at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 13,334 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.53, for a total transaction of $47,069.02. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 266,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at $942,206.42. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $5,616,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,772,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,840,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 16.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,685,803 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $24,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Informed Momentum Co LLC purchased a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $3,414,000. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.