Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $6.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 14th.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $1.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $444.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.17 and a beta of 0.95. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $2.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.85.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $46.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.36 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Grund sold 55,621 shares of the company’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 $116,804.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 442,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,415.90. The trade was a 11.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of Akebia Therapeutics 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 280,248 shares in the company, valued at $588,520.80. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 280,579 shares of company stock valued at $589,216. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AKBA. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. PDS Planning Inc bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mariner LLC acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Akebia Therapeutics Company Profile

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.