Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. $AKBA Stock Position Lowered by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its position in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 49.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,833,128 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,760,005 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Akebia Therapeutics were worth $2,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,393 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 13.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 176,961 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 20,499 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 9.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 137,897 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 11,517 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 171.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,724,439 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,231,000 after buying an additional 1,722,245 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 123.0% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,652,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,016,000 after acquiring an additional 911,585 shares in the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AKBA opened at $0.91 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $252.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.27 and a beta of 0.26. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.26. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $0.82 and a 52 week high of $3.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $49.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.85 million. Akebia Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 88.88% and a negative net margin of 13.54%. On average, research analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Erik Ostrowski sold 56,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.11, for a total transaction of $62,181.09. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 616,616 shares in the company, valued at $684,443.76. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AKBA shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $1.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.75.

Akebia Therapeutics Company Profile

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.