Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Insider Sells $56,130.75 in Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) insider Mike Kelliher sold 9,595 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $56,130.75. Following the sale, the insider owned 364,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,296.10. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Ardelyx stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $5.75. 7,054,837 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,578,790. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.21 and a 12 month high of $8.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $6.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.13. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.00 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARDX. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Ardelyx by 34.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,103,000 after buying an additional 2,866,843 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter worth about $708,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 488.0% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 306,547 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after purchasing an additional 254,417 shares in the last quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,176,000. Finally, AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx during the third quarter worth approximately $1,094,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ARDX. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Ardelyx from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.09.

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.