Insider Selling: Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CAO Sells 30,202 Shares of Stock

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 30,202 shares of Akebia Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $63,424.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 280,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $588,520.80. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $2.14 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $466.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.30 and a beta of 0.74. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $0.80 and a 52-week high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 683,287 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $534,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,754,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,277,000 after buying an additional 218,172 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 200,482 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $221,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AKBA shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th.

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.