Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) Short Interest Up 18.6% in December

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of 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 days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AKBA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Akebia Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Akebia Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AKBA. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Akebia Therapeutics by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 116,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 44,806 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 10.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 98,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,662 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Akebia Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 276.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 273,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 200,482 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Akebia Therapeutics by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,754,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 218,172 shares in the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Akebia Therapeutics Stock Up 7.3 %

AKBA traded up $0.14 on Friday, hitting $2.07. The company had a trading volume of 6,512,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,701,380. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.58. Akebia Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.80 and a 1 year high of $2.48.

Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $37.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Akebia Therapeutics will post -0.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.