Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Earns “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $11.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price indicates a potential upside of 81.22% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ARDX. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ardelyx from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.67.

Ardelyx Trading Up 3.4 %

ARDX stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $6.07. 6,761,365 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,850,536. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 3.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -22.48 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.33. Ardelyx has a 52-week low of $3.43 and a 52-week high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.04. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 39.73% and a negative net margin of 31.02%. The firm had revenue of $73.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.03 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.08) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 228.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ardelyx news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 49,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.92, for a total transaction of $342,982.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 301,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,089,466.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ardelyx news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 49,564 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.92, for a total transaction of $342,982.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 301,946 shares in the company, valued at $2,089,466.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.61, for a total value of $196,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,220,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,847,610.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 212,126 shares of company stock valued at $1,298,963. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redmile Group LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the first quarter worth $16,020,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 142.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,203,090 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,995 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 68.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,913,863 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584,597 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 2.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,391,855 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $97,761,000 after buying an additional 365,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 375.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 460,689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 363,894 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.