Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 212.50% from the stock’s current price.

AKBA has been the topic of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $1.92 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $453.56 million, a PE ratio of -8.35 and a beta of 0.94. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.80 and a 12-month high of $2.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2.08 and a 200 day moving average of $1.84.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 research analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In related news, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. This trade represents a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $63,424.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $588,520.80. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock valued at $589,216 over the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,680,000 after acquiring an additional 813,902 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 683,287 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $534,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 357,748 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 294,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

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.