Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Trading 6.8% Higher

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)’s stock price traded up 6.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $4.58 and last traded at $4.55. 3,489,058 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 5,990,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $5.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, August 25th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, August 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.10.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.87. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.62 and a beta of 1.18.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.04. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 54.22% and a negative net margin of 67.69%. The business had revenue of $22.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.88 million. Analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 11,419 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.55, for a total transaction of $40,537.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 876,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,110,637.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Robert Blanks sold 33,333 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Friday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.63, for a total transaction of $120,998.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 266,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,066.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 11,419 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.55, for a total value of $40,537.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 876,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,110,637.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 82,102 shares of company stock valued at $289,129. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Ardelyx by 47.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,437,564 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $76,063,000 after acquiring an additional 7,234,448 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Ardelyx by 278.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,030,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $47,563,000 after acquiring an additional 10,325,699 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 9.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,745,518 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,838,000 after buying an additional 508,901 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,950,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ardelyx by 113.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,216,166 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,293,000 after purchasing an additional 2,237,993 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.19% of the company’s stock.

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.