Brokerages Set Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Price Target at $10.39

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.39.

ARDX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised Ardelyx to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5.50 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, February 21st. BTIG Research began coverage on Ardelyx in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other news, Director David M. Mott bought 77,729 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $5.00 per share, with a total value of $388,645.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,015,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,077,470. This trade represents a 4.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $27,768.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,378.48. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 158,076 shares of company stock valued at $777,555. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Ardelyx during the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in Ardelyx by 19.4% during the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 448,407 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,202,000 after acquiring an additional 72,940 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ardelyx by 52.8% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 682,231 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,350,000 after acquiring an additional 235,804 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Ardelyx by 92.8% during the first quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 1,747,733 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,581,000 after acquiring an additional 841,422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ardelyx during the first quarter worth approximately $1,051,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

ARDX stock opened at $3.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $808.68 million, a P/E ratio of -21.13 and a beta of 0.76. Ardelyx has a 1 year low of $3.21 and a 1 year high of $8.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 4.58 and a quick ratio of 4.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.11.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.07). Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $74.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Ardelyx’s revenue for the quarter was up 61.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ardelyx

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.