Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. $AKBA Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 75.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,955 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 536,790 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.06% of Akebia Therapeutics worth $195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AKBA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,784,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 6.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,547,508 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $42,445,000 after purchasing an additional 936,042 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,687,561 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $22,037,000 after buying an additional 1,842,792 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,277,177 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,108,000 after buying an additional 92,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 166.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,706,437 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,577,000 after buying an additional 2,938,624 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $0.95 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $0.81 and a fifty-two week high of $3.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $263.72 million, a P/E ratio of -8.65 and a beta of 0.19.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $49.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.85 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.14 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Leerink Partners lowered Akebia Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $1.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, August 7th. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.50 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Erik Ostrowski sold 56,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $684,443.76. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Akebia Therapeutics 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.