Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.7273.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $12.00 target price on Ardelyx in a report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Ardelyx Price Performance

ARDX opened at $5.93 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.00. The company has a current ratio of 4.30, a quick ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. Ardelyx has a 1 year low of $3.21 and a 1 year high of $6.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.78 and a beta of 0.66.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $110.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.44 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 36.57% and a negative net margin of 14.60%.Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 6,426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $35,600.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 359,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,993,823.84. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 46,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total transaction of $259,753.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,455,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,062,711.02. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 64,868 shares of company stock valued at $359,369 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 14.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,843 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 118.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,465,262 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501,782 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 88.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,527,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $21,670,000 after buying an additional 2,600,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ardelyx in the 1st quarter worth approximately $16,735,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.