Insider Selling: Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Sells $192,000.00 in Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Michael Raab sold 30,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total value of $192,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,389,971.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Michael Raab also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 15th, Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of Ardelyx stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $52,950.00.
• On Monday, April 1st, Michael Raab sold 1,518 shares of Ardelyx stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.31, for a total transaction of $11,096.58.
• On Tuesday, February 20th, Michael Raab sold 22,917 shares of Ardelyx stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $200,523.75.

Ardelyx Stock Up 28.4 %

ARDX stock opened at $8.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.07 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.88, a quick ratio of 4.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Ardelyx, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.16 and a twelve month high of $10.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.79.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 53.08% and a negative return on equity of 43.57%. The firm had revenue of $46.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. Ardelyx’s revenue for the quarter was up 303.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on ARDX shares. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.81.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Ardelyx during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.