Citigroup Inc. Has $5.23 Million Position in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. $AKBA

Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) by 1,324.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,916,692 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,782,162 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.72% of Akebia Therapeutics worth $5,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,393 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Akebia Therapeutics by 13.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 176,961 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 20,499 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 9.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,517 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,722,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $112,000. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AKBA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research cut their target price on Akebia Therapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Akebia Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.40.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ AKBA opened at $1.22 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.06. The firm has a market cap of $326.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -60.97 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1.14 and a 1 year high of $4.08.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($0.02). Akebia Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.70% and a negative net margin of 2.26%.The firm had revenue of $57.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.37 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akebia Therapeutics

In other news, CAO Richard C. Malabre sold 49,524 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.39, for a total value of $68,838.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 299,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $416,152.10. This represents a 14.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.