James Parker Brady Sells 2,543 Shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) insider James Parker Brady sold 2,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $14,876.55. Following the transaction, the insider owned 262,912 shares in the company, valued at $1,538,035.20. This trade represents a 0.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ardelyx Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of ARDX stock traded up $0.02 on Monday, hitting $5.75. The stock had a trading volume of 7,054,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,578,790. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $6.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.13. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.21 and a 1 year high of $8.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 4.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.00 and a beta of 0.57.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $125.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.04 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.02 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 2.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 159,061 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 4,436 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 10.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,378,738 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,680,000 after purchasing an additional 221,486 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at $72,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Ardelyx during the 1st quarter worth $135,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the second quarter worth about $40,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ARDX. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upgraded Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $16.00 in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.09.

About Ardelyx

Ardelyx, Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX) is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing targeted small molecule drugs for cardio‐renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead marketed product, tenapanor (sold under the brand name XPHOZAH in the United States), is approved for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Ardelyx’s proprietary approach targets epithelial transporters in the gastrointestinal tract, offering localized activity with limited systemic exposure.

Beyond tenapanor, Ardelyx’s development pipeline includes treatments designed to address other complications in kidney disease and related metabolic disorders.