HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $7.50 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $2.39 on Thursday. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $2.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $521.45 million, a P/E ratio of -10.39 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1.93 and its 200 day moving average is $1.61.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $37.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.66 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Effects LLC lifted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 32,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 116,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 44,806 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 10.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 98,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,662 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $221,000. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.