Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Given New $12.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its price objective raised by Citigroup from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ARDX. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, April 5th. Piper Sandler cut Ardelyx from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the company from $15.00 to $7.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, June 20th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $11.43.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $5.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a current ratio of 4.53. Ardelyx has a 52-week low of $3.16 and a 52-week high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.04. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 38.41% and a negative net margin of 31.02%. The business had revenue of $73.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 228.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.64, for a total transaction of $169,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,260,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,109,011.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.64, for a total transaction of $169,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,260,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,109,011.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 17,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.00, for a total value of $125,104.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 158,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,109,514. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,182 shares of company stock worth $1,920,302 in the last ninety days. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 283.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 471,453 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,493,000 after buying an additional 348,642 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 34.5% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 63,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 16,198 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 1,026.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 3,233 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 588,192 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,359,000 after buying an additional 149,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 154.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC now owns 232,377 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,722,000 after buying an additional 141,145 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by 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.