Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock Rating Lowered by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler lowered shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. Piper Sandler currently has $7.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $15.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on ARDX. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ardelyx from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, April 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $11.31.

Ardelyx Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of ARDX opened at $5.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 4.53 and a quick ratio of 4.36. Ardelyx has a one year low of $3.16 and a one year high of $10.13. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.00 and a beta of 0.83.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $46.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 41.65% and a negative net margin of 41.36%. Ardelyx’s revenue was up 303.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.13) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ardelyx news, insider Robert Blanks sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $226,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 324,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,012.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $52,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at $9,255,186.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Robert Blanks sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $226,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 324,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,012.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 534,119 shares of company stock valued at $4,117,225 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,112 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Ardelyx by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 30,269 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 8.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 57,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 7,117 shares in the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.