Reflections On The Past For Investors Today: Akebia Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: AKBA)

Akebia Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKBA) does about 1.69M shares in volume on a normal day but saw 3399272 shares change hands in the recent trading day. The company now has a market cap of 396.07M USD. Its current market price is $1.85, marking an increase of 9.47% compared to the previous close of $1.69. The 52 week high reached by this stock is $2.48 whilst the lowest price level in 52 weeks is $0.80. The script in recent trading has seen the stock touch a high of $7 and a low of $6.

Akebia Therapeutics Inc (AKBA) has a 20-day trading average at $1.4920 and the current price is -25.40% off the 52-week high compared with 131.25% distance from its 52-week low. The 50-day simple moving average of the closing price is $1.4339 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.3907. If we look at the stock’s price movements over the week, volatility stands at 6.04%, which decreases to 5.30% over 1 month. It is also key to look at other market indicators of price movement for the stock, where we see that the relative strength index (RSI) is at 77.94 to suggest the stock is overbought.

4 analysts observing the Akebia Therapeutics Inc (AKBA) stock have set the 12-month price targets for the company’s shares at between $6 and $7. The consensus objective for the share price is $5.50, suggesting that the stock has a potential upside of 66.36% over the period. The median price target is 71.54% away from the current levels at $6.5.

FactSet Research has provided data showing that 4 brokerages have issued ratings for the stock. 0 analysts have rated it as a sell, while 0 advise that it is a overweight. 4 analysts have rated it as a buy and 0 have advised that investors hold their positions. The consensus recommendation rating is Buy and Wall Street’s advice is for investors to Strong Buy the stock.

The company shares received a number of brokerage firm price updates over the past month, with the latest being on November 29, 2023 when BTIG Research resumed the stock to “Buy” and issued a price target of $4. H.C. Wainwright upgraded the stock to “Buy” from Neutral on August 28, 2023 at a price target of $3.75. Piper Sandler upgraded its price target at $2-$4.

The current price level is 23.99%, 29.02%, and 33.03% away from its SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200 respectively, with the AKBA price moving below the 50-day SMA on current market day. Akebia Therapeutics Inc (AKBA) stock is up 13.50% over the week and 39.10% over the past month. Its price is 49.19% year-to-date and 109.39% over the past year.

The company’s next earnings report forecasts estimating quarterly EPS at -0.06 and -0.24 for whole year. Expected sales for next quarter are $51.22M, which analysts say will come at $172M for the current fiscal year and next year at $177.55M. In addition, estimates put the company’s current quarterly revenue at an average of $44.51M.

Its 12-month price target is $6.5. To reach the target analysts have set, the stock logically needs to grow 66.36 percent from here. Of course, the average price target is just what the average analysts believe a stock will be worth in the next 52 weeks, and is only one metric. There are analysts with lower targets than the average, including one bearish Wall Street research firm advocating investors to wait for the price to pull back to $6, given the recent momentum. And then, on the bullish side of things, one analyst is expecting the stock to peak at $7.

The company has a return on investment of -63.51%. The beta has a value of 0.64. Price to sales ratio is 2.27.