Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.70.

ARDX has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price target (up from $13.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. HC Wainwright initiated coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Insider Activity

In other Ardelyx news, insider Mike Kelliher sold 5,417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total transaction of $32,122.81. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 276,741 shares in the company, valued at $1,641,074.13. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Grammer sold 5,841 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total transaction of $34,637.13. Following the sale, the insider owned 305,890 shares in the company, valued at $1,813,927.70. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 165,551 shares of company stock valued at $996,917. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1,342.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 5,502 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 339,436 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 13,312 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $182,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $638,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

ARDX stock opened at $5.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 4.03 and a current ratio of 4.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.80. Ardelyx has a 52 week low of $3.21 and a 52 week high of $6.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of -21.78 and a beta of 0.67.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.05. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 14.60% and a negative return on equity of 36.57%. The business had revenue of $97.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.69 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.07) earnings per share. Ardelyx’s revenue was up 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

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.