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

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.50 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 443.48% from the stock’s current price.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AKBA opened at $1.38 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.78 and a fifty-two week high of $2.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.35. The firm has a market cap of $289.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.00 and a beta of 0.77.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $43.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.06) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 40.7% in 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 during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Compass Ion Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Cannon Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Akebia Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

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.