Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.63.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partnrs raised Akebia Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AKBA opened at $2.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $607.34 million, a PE ratio of -10.09 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $2.02 and its 200-day moving average is $1.97. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.89.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.36 million. Analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AKBA. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 200,482 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,754,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,277,000 after acquiring an additional 218,172 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $221,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 98,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 116,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 44,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.92% 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.