Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.81.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ARDX shares. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, SVB Leerink assumed coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 39,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.35, for a total transaction of $333,574.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 370,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,091,078.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 39,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.35, for a total transaction of $333,574.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 370,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,091,078.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total transaction of $52,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,255,186.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 495,327 shares of company stock worth $3,886,619 in the last 90 days. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at about $168,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,571,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 1st quarter valued at about $657,000. Finally, Redmile Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 1st quarter valued at about $16,020,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ardelyx Price Performance

ARDX opened at $5.95 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.25 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 4.36, a current ratio of 4.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $7.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.56. Ardelyx has a twelve month low of $3.16 and a twelve month high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $46.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 41.36% and a negative return on equity of 41.65%. The company’s revenue was up 303.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.13) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ardelyx will post -0.36 EPS for the current year.

About Ardelyx

Ardelyx, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines to treat gastrointestinal and cardiorenal therapeutic areas in the United States and internationally. The company's lead product candidate is tenapanor for the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation.