Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $19.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Ardelyx traded as high as $8.17 and last traded at $8.0850, with a volume of 2709575 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $7.76.

ARDX has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.30.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 46,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $259,753.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,455,363 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,711.02. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mike Kelliher sold 5,560 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $30,802.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 271,181 shares in the company, valued at $1,502,342.74. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 114,868 shares of company stock valued at $708,369. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Ardelyx by 34.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,866,843 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Ardelyx by 88.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,527,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600,080 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ardelyx by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,369,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $101,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337,672 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Ardelyx by 1,987.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 865,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,768,000 after purchasing an additional 823,810 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ardelyx by 47.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,312,363 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,064,000 after purchasing an additional 739,300 shares during the period. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.68. The company has a quick ratio of 4.11, a current ratio of 4.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The company has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.74 and a beta of 0.56.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.06. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 36.91% and a negative net margin of 14.20%.The firm had revenue of $110.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.44 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

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.