Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $3.75.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AKBA shares. Wall Street Zen cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut Akebia Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $1.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, August 7th.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $0.86 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.81 and a fifty-two week high of $3.32. The firm has a market cap of $238.31 million, a P/E ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 0.26.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Akebia Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 88.88% and a negative net margin of 13.54%.The firm had revenue of $49.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.85 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Erik Ostrowski sold 56,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.11, for a total transaction of $62,181.09. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 616,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $684,443.76. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $97,000. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $360,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 32.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 839,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 206,476 shares during the last quarter. 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.