14,944 Shares in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Purchased by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC purchased a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,944 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,884,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,680,000 after purchasing an additional 813,902 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 363.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 357,748 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 200,482 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,823,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,265,000 after acquiring an additional 105,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 502,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $954,000 after acquiring an additional 97,409 shares in the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AKBA. Leerink Partners began coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 3rd. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Akebia Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $6.63.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AKBA opened at $2.55 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $2.07 and its 200-day moving average is $1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $667.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.09 and a beta of 0.88. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $2.90.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $57.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.88 million. Equities research analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Akebia Therapeutics 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.