Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Price Target Raised to $6.00 at Piper Sandler

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AKBA. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 33.7 %

AKBA opened at $2.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $2.02 and a 200-day moving average of $1.78. The stock has a market cap of $493.09 million, a PE ratio of -9.83 and a beta of 0.94. Akebia Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.80 and a 52 week high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.36 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $106,062.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,714,091.40. The trade was a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $63,424.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $588,520.80. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 over the last quarter. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% in the third 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. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $534,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 205.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 31,137 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised 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 worth $4,528,000 after acquiring an additional 683,287 shares during the period. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.