HC Wainwright Reiterates Neutral Rating for Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $5.50 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.80% from the company’s previous close. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Ardelyx’s FY2029 earnings at $1.18 EPS.

ARDX has been the subject of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.93.

Ardelyx Stock Down 11.6 %

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $5.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.59 and a beta of 0.85. Ardelyx has a 52 week low of $4.32 and a 52 week high of $9.83.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The company had revenue of $116.13 million during 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 25.74%. On average, analysts predict that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In related news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of Ardelyx 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. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,964 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $129,057.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,085,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,101,943.10. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 166,408 shares of company stock worth $896,463. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 73,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 3.4% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 90,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 154,625 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 463,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,486 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 4,933 shares in the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.