Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CAO Sells $47,069.02 in Stock

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 13,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.53, for a total value of $47,069.02. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 266,914 shares in the company, valued at $942,206.42. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 7.6%

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $3.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of -17.26 and a beta of 0.85. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $4.00.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $57.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.88 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 6.3% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 282,066 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 16,677 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $4,772,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 171.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,724,439 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,245 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 9.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 137,897 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 11,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 28.5% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,579,355 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,032,000 after acquiring an additional 350,645 shares in the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AKBA. HC Wainwright began coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Leerink Partnrs raised Akebia Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.75.

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.