Insider Selling: Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Sells 45,982 Shares of Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Michael Raab sold 45,982 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total transaction of $268,994.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,856,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,863,368.10. The trade was a 2.42% 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.

Ardelyx Trading Up 0.3%

Ardelyx stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $5.75. The company had a trading volume of 7,054,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,578,790. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.00 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 4.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $6.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.13. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12-month low of $3.21 and a 12-month high of $8.40.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $125.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.04 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARDX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $15.09.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Corp raised its position in shares of Ardelyx by 120.4% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 7,906 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 4,319 shares during the period. DCF Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 147.0% during the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 10,253 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 6,102 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ardelyx Company Profile

Ardelyx, Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX) is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing targeted small molecule drugs for cardio‐renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead marketed product, tenapanor (sold under the brand name XPHOZAH in the United States), is approved for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Ardelyx’s proprietary approach targets epithelial transporters in the gastrointestinal tract, offering localized activity with limited systemic exposure.

Beyond tenapanor, Ardelyx’s development pipeline includes treatments designed to address other complications in kidney disease and related metabolic disorders.