Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) Share Price Crosses Below 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $1.62 and traded as low as $1.36. Akebia Therapeutics shares last traded at $1.38, with a volume of 1,291,840 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics from $6.00 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.67.

Akebia Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a market cap of $369.67 million, a P/E ratio of -68.97 and a beta of 0.37.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $57.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.37 million. Akebia Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 2.26% and a negative return on equity of 16.70%. On average, equities analysts expect that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akebia Therapeutics news, CEO John P. Butler purchased 69,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $1.25 per share, for a total transaction of $86,587.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,367,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,830. This represents a 2.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 49,524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.39, for a total transaction of $68,838.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 299,390 shares in the company, valued at $416,152.10. This trade represents a 14.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 6.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,547,508 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,445,000 after purchasing an additional 936,042 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,687,561 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,792 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,277,177 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after purchasing an additional 92,226 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 166.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,706,437 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,577,000 after buying an additional 2,938,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 470.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,646,233 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,954,000 after buying an additional 3,006,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

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.