Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Position in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA - Free Report) by 24.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 502,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 97,409 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.21% of Akebia Therapeutics worth $954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $20,680,000 after buying an additional 813,902 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 357,748 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in 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 during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $521,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $342,000. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 13,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $942,206.42. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $6.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. HC Wainwright initiated coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $8.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Akebia Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $6.75.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 7.6%

AKBA traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,174,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,085,201. The stock's 50-day moving average is $2.44 and its 200-day moving average is $2.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.26 and a beta of 0.85. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $4.00.

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

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.