Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CEO John P. Butler Sells 144,250 Shares

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $302,925.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,604,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,469,093. This trade represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $2.17 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2.00 and a 200-day moving average of $1.67. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $0.80 and a twelve month high of $2.48. The firm has a market cap of $473.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.43 and a beta of 0.74.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.66 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% during 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 period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 683,287 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 140,529 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 497,547 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 27,839 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $534,000. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AKBA shares. StockNews.com downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a 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.