Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) had its price target upped by Piper Sandler from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

AKBA has been the topic of several other research reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

AKBA opened at $2.26 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $2.02 and its 200 day moving average is $1.78. The stock has a market cap of $493.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.83 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akebia Therapeutics news, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $302,925.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at $5,469,093. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $63,424.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 280,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $588,520.80. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AKBA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% in 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 683,287 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $534,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 357,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 117.9% during 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 last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.