Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Shares Down 6.8% After Insider Selling

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) dropped 6.8% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $7.21 and last traded at $7.2150. Approximately 2,661,161 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 9,203,950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.74.

Specifically, insider Laura A. Williams sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.98, for a total value of $349,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 361,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,523,709.74. The trade was a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARDX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on Ardelyx from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Ardelyx from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.80.

Ardelyx Trading Down 4.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 4.41 and a quick ratio of 4.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $5.94 and its 200-day moving average is $5.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.61 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $110.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.44 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 36.91% and a negative net margin of 14.20%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARDX. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 79.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 233,248 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 103,385 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 34.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,843 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $708,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,176,000. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. raised its stake in Ardelyx by 225.9% during the second quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 716,122 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after buying an additional 496,410 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ardelyx

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.