Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Stock

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) had its target price boosted by Piper Sandler from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Friday.

Akebia Therapeutics Trading Up 33.7 %

AKBA opened at $2.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $493.09 million, a PE ratio of -9.83 and a beta of 0.94. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.80 and a 1-year high of $2.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.79.

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

Insider Transactions at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 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 transaction of $302,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at $5,469,093. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Steven Keith Burke sold 50,506 shares of the business’s 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 $106,062.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 816,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,714,091.40. This represents a 5.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,579 shares of company stock worth $589,216 in the last quarter. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AKBA. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Mariner LLC acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

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.