Short Interest in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Expands By 18.6%

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,680,000 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the December 15th total of 14,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akebia Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AKBA. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,754,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,277,000 after buying an additional 218,172 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,914,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,993,000 after purchasing an additional 262,700 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 24.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,430,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,528,000 after buying an additional 683,287 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Akebia Therapeutics by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 682,038 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 140,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 3,122.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 604,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 585,789 shares during the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AKBA. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 7.3 %

Akebia Therapeutics stock opened at $2.07 on Friday. Akebia Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.80 and a 52 week high of $2.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.57.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $45.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.