Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Upgraded at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

ARDX has been the subject of several other reports. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank began coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.95.

Ardelyx Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARDX opened at $5.47 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.57. Ardelyx has a 12-month low of $4.32 and a 12-month high of $9.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of -34.19 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 4.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $116.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 41,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.36, for a total transaction of $223,340.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,635,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,764,339.68. This trade represents a 2.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Mott bought 213,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.67 per share, with a total value of $996,111.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,638,765 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,032.55. The trade was a 14.96 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 490,029 shares of company stock valued at $2,377,766 and have sold 158,076 shares valued at $853,804. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. State Street Corp raised its position in Ardelyx by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,141,850 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $83,657,000 after purchasing an additional 176,789 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 68.5% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,060,191 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $21,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243,606 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 274.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 181,387 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 132,928 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ardelyx in the third quarter worth $3,445,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ardelyx by 1.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 387,144 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,667,000 after acquiring an additional 6,093 shares in the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.