Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Earns “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Raymond James in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $13.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $15.00. Raymond James’ target price indicates a potential upside of 157.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.93.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $5.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.59 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.63. Ardelyx has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $9.83.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.16 million. As a group, analysts predict that Ardelyx will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.26, for a total value of $131,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,150,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,051,025.10. This represents a 2.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,378.48. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 166,408 shares of company stock valued at $896,463. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARDX. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

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.