Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $4.6667.

AKBA has been the topic of several recent research reports. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

AKBA opened at $1.14 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.82 and a 1-year high of $4.08. The company has a market capitalization of $305.82 million, a PE ratio of -14.25 and a beta of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.32.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.02). Akebia Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 62.72% and a negative net margin of 8.83%.The business had revenue of $53.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.67 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Akebia Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $1,215,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 1,324.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,916,692 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,162 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $803,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,763,362 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,841,000 after purchasing an additional 505,951 shares during the period. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Akebia Therapeutics

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for patients with kidney disease. The company’s lead product candidate, vadadustat, is an investigational oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor designed to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease in both dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis patients. Akebia’s research and development efforts also extend to preclinical programs targeting nephrology and related metabolic disorders.

Since its founding in 2007, Akebia has pursued strategic collaborations to advance its clinical pipeline and expand its market reach.