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

Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.93.

Several research firms have issued reports on ARDX. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5.50 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Ardelyx stock opened at $5.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.06 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Ardelyx has a 12-month low of $4.32 and a 12-month high of $9.83.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 25.74%. The company had revenue of $116.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.16 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $27,768.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,378.48. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Mott acquired 213,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.67 per share, for a total transaction of $996,111.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,638,765 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,032.55. This represents a 14.96 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 141,408 shares of company stock worth $761,963. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARDX. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,387,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $123,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,858,061 shares during the period. Two Seas Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth about $9,407,000. Rock Springs Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,421,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 9,499.8% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,468,668 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,762,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardelyx Company Profile

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.