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

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 282.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Zacks Research downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, BTIG Research decreased their price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $10.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Akebia Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.00.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AKBA opened at $1.57 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.00. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.45 and a 1-year high of $4.08. The company has a market cap of $416.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.43 and a beta of 0.31.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 6.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,547,508 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,445,000 after buying an additional 936,042 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,074,458 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $22,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,718 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 470.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,646,233 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,954,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006,771 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 87.0% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 3,206,184 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MPM Bioimpact LLC bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $10,516,000. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.