Sei Investments Co. Buys New Position in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. $AKBA

Key Points

• Sei Investments Co. invested approximately $336,000 in Akebia Therapeutics, acquiring 175,045 shares and owning about 0.07% of the company as of the latest quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Bank of America and Deutsche Bank, significantly increased their stakes in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have given Akebia Therapeutics a consensus rating of "Buy" with an average price target of $6.75.

Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 175,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $336,000. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.07% of Akebia Therapeutics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AKBA. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $5,616,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,801,603 shares during the last quarter. Informed Momentum Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $3,414,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 357,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 117.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 543,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 294,343 shares during the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AKBA. Zacks Research downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 3rd. HC Wainwright initiated coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Akebia Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Akebia Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $6.75.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AKBA traded up $0.0650 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.1050. 2,193,430 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,162,267. The company has a market cap of $823.26 million, a PE ratio of -18.26 and a beta of 0.96. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $1.24 and a one year high of $4.08. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.01, for a total transaction of $60,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 266,914 shares in the company, valued at $1,070,325.14. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Erik Ostrowski sold 41,314 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.67, for a total value of $151,622.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 503,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,848,160.62. This represents a 7.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,648 shares of company stock valued at $258,841. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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.