Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,680,000 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the December 15th total of 14,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 40.7% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,221 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 9,037 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 98,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 9,662 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 68,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 13,907 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 205.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 31,137 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AKBA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 7.3 %

Shares of AKBA stock opened at $2.07 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.80 and a 12-month high of $2.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.57.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $37.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.26 EPS for the current year.

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.