Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock Price

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Citigroup from $12.00 to $10.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 69.78% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on ARDX. StockNews.com upgraded Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.33.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of Ardelyx stock traded down $0.20 on Monday, hitting $5.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,926,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,844,388. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 3.99 and a current ratio of 4.21. Ardelyx has a 1 year low of $3.43 and a 1 year high of $10.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $6.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.32. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.27 and a beta of 0.92.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.04. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 46.86% and a negative net margin of 28.82%. The company had revenue of $73.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was up 228.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 35,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $196,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,220,608 shares in the company, valued at $6,847,610.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 35,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,220,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,847,610.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Justin A. Renz sold 5,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.86, for a total value of $30,993.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 295,257 shares in the company, valued at $1,730,206.02. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 212,126 shares of company stock worth $1,298,963 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 6.7% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 458,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after acquiring an additional 28,900 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 100.7% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 536,297 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,915,000 after purchasing an additional 269,046 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 8.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 57,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the first quarter worth $341,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 2.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,391,855 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,761,000 after purchasing an additional 365,809 shares in the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently 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.