StockNews.com Lowers Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) to Sell

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

ARDX has been the topic of several other reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, SVB Leerink began coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, April 5th. They issued an outperform rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $12.81.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of Ardelyx stock opened at $7.41 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.00 and a 200 day moving average of $7.64. Ardelyx has a 52 week low of $3.16 and a 52 week high of $10.13. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of -26.46 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.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $46.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 303.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other news, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total transaction of $1,832,374.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 95,947 shares in the company, valued at $845,293.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 39,949 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.35, for a total value of $333,574.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 370,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,091,078.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total transaction of $1,832,374.28. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 95,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $845,293.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 534,119 shares of company stock worth $4,117,225. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. Farallon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the 1st quarter worth approximately $168,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the first quarter worth $220,000. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the first quarter valued at $1,571,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in Ardelyx in the first quarter valued at about $657,000. Finally, Redmile Group LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the first quarter worth about $16,020,000. 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.