Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Short Interest Up 21.7% in December

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,070,000 shares, a growth of 21.7% from the November 30th total of 11,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.1 days.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Down 5.1 %

Akebia Therapeutics stock opened at $1.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $403.63 million, a PE ratio of -8.04 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.49. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,754,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,277,000 after acquiring an additional 218,172 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 7.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,914,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,993,000 after buying an additional 262,700 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,528,000 after buying an additional 683,287 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 682,038 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 140,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 3,122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 604,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $617,000 after acquiring an additional 585,789 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AKBA. StockNews.com lowered Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 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.