Joseph James Reilly Sells 4,991 Shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) insider Joseph James Reilly sold 4,991 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $29,197.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 151,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,971.50. This represents a 3.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Ardelyx Trading Up 14.1%

Shares of ARDX stock opened at $6.56 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $6.77 and a 200 day moving average of $6.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 4.11. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.21 and a 1-year high of $8.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -26.24 and a beta of 0.57.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $125.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.04 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Ardelyx

Here are the key news stories impacting Ardelyx this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director David M. Mott bought 333,333 shares (~$1.95M) at about $5.84, increasing his stake ~11.2% — a strong insider vote of confidence that can support the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Ardelyx announced a multi‑year partnership with the LPGA to raise awareness and reduce stigma around digestive health — a marketing push that could help commercial uptake of XPHOZAH/brand awareness over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong — Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform with a $19 target and other firms (BTIG, HC Wainwright, Jefferies, Citi) have reiterated buys or raised targets, which can attract buyers. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Quarterly revenue beat estimates ($125.2M vs. $118.0M) and revenue grew ~7.8% y/y — constructive fundamental data but partially offset by the EPS miss.
• Neutral Sentiment: Post‑results commentary includes valuation and guidance analysis (coverage piece on Yahoo Finance reviewing 2025 results and 2026 guidance) — useful for longer‑term investors assessing upside vs. risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Ardelyx missed EPS expectations (reported a small loss vs. a modest expected profit), which triggered a post‑earnings pullback and adds short‑term risk for the shares. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders (including CEO Michael Raab, CFO Susan Hohenleitner and several executives) sold shares around Feb. 20 (CEO sold ~45,982 shares), which can be perceived as profit‑taking and may pressure sentiment despite the director buy. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARDX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler raised Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ardelyx has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $15.09.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Ardelyx by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 38,512 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,807 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 347,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,532 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 12.0% during the third quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 23,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Ardelyx by 25.1% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,701 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550 shares during the period. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.