Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Receives $15.56 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $15.5556.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 8,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $47,829.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 436,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,551,079.70. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph James Reilly sold 4,991 shares of the firm’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 $29,197.35. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 151,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $887,971.50. This represents a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 136,938 shares of company stock valued at $857,587 over the last quarter. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 34.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,843 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the second quarter worth $708,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ardelyx by 14.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,369,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,215,000 after buying an additional 2,337,672 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in Ardelyx by 488.0% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 306,547 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,689,000 after buying an additional 254,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at $2,176,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of ARDX opened at $6.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.31. Ardelyx has a 52 week low of $3.21 and a 52 week high of $8.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.68 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $6.88 and a 200-day moving average of $6.17.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $118.04 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 40.63% and a negative net margin of 15.12%.The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardelyx Company Profile

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.