Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Short Interest Up 18.6% in January

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,680,000 shares, an increase of 18.6% from the December 31st total of 14,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.9 days.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $2.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $501.81 million, a PE ratio of -10.00 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.65. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.80 and a 1-year high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 200,482 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $534,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 205.8% in the third 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 last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 683,287 shares during the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AKBA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

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.