Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Receives “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 426.32% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on AKBA. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.67.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of AKBA opened at $1.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $305.82 million, a P/E ratio of -14.25 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Akebia Therapeutics has a one year low of $0.82 and a one year high of $4.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1.12 and a 200 day moving average of $1.32.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $53.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.67 million. Akebia Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 8.83% and a negative return on equity of 62.72%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 6.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,547,508 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,445,000 after buying an additional 936,042 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,687,561 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,792 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,277,177 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after acquiring an additional 92,226 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 166.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,706,437 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,577,000 after acquiring an additional 2,938,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 470.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,646,233 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,954,000 after acquiring an additional 3,006,771 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Company Profile

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for patients with kidney disease. The company’s lead product candidate, vadadustat, is an investigational oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor designed to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease in both dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis patients. Akebia’s research and development efforts also extend to preclinical programs targeting nephrology and related metabolic disorders.

Since its founding in 2007, Akebia has pursued strategic collaborations to advance its clinical pipeline and expand its market reach.