Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $9.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 121.67% from the stock’s previous close.

ARDX has been the topic of several other reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Ardelyx from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. BTIG Research lowered their price target on Ardelyx from $17.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.90.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $4.06 on Tuesday. Ardelyx has a 52 week low of $3.86 and a 52 week high of $8.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.91. The company has a quick ratio of 3.15, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of -18.45 and a beta of 0.70.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 12.35% and a negative return on equity of 36.00%. The firm had revenue of $120.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Ardelyx’s revenue was up 34.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric Duane Foster sold 7,998 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.27, for a total transaction of $50,147.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 417,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,620,684.44. The trade was a 1.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mike Kelliher sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.27, for a total value of $45,444.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 357,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,241,010.86. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $154,066. Company insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter valued at about $119,874,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,979,483 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $110,650,000 after acquiring an additional 610,162 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Ardelyx by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,514,692 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $84,583,000 after acquiring an additional 690,599 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Ardelyx by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,912,339 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,827,618 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,981,000 after acquiring an additional 70,832 shares during the period. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.