Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CEO Sells $302,925.00 in Stock

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) CEO John P. Butler sold 144,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.10, for a total transaction of $302,925.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,604,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,469,093. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of AKBA opened at $2.16 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $0.80 and a 52-week high of $2.48. The stock has a market cap of $471.27 million, a PE ratio of -9.39 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $2.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.68.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) 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 analysts’ expectations of $45.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AKBA. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the third quarter worth approximately $58,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Akebia Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AKBA shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

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.