Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Separately, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock opened at $1.80 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2.02 and a 200 day moving average of $1.75. The firm has a market cap of $392.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.83 and a beta of 0.74. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $2.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Akebia Therapeutics news, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $302,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,469,093. This trade represents a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $106,062.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. This represents a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 in the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AKBA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,680,000 after purchasing an additional 813,902 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $534,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring 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.