Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning.

Separately, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AKBA opened at $2.11 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.70. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $2.48. The company has a market cap of $460.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.17 and a beta of 0.74.

Insider Activity at Akebia Therapeutics

In other Akebia Therapeutics news, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $63,424.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $588,520.80. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total value of $106,062.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 816,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. This represents a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AKBA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,680,000 after purchasing an additional 813,902 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $534,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 357,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,754,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 218,172 shares during the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.