Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) PT Raised to $14.00

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Wedbush from $13.00 to $14.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 117.39% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ARDX. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Leerink Partnrs reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.69.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARDX opened at $6.44 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.64, a current ratio of 4.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.47 and a beta of 0.85. Ardelyx has a fifty-two week low of $3.16 and a fifty-two week high of $10.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $8.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.57.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $34.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.26 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 43.57% and a negative net margin of 53.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. Analysts expect that Ardelyx will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, insider Robert Blanks sold 5,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $43,898.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 368,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,221,627.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ardelyx news, insider Robert Blanks sold 5,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $43,898.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 368,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,221,627.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 15,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $140,857.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 384,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,525,138.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 148,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,208,524. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 438,827 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,203,000 after acquiring an additional 118,879 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,026,046 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $80,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460,246 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $663,000. American International Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 114,597 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 8,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $241,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.