Traders Buy Large Volume of Ardelyx Call Options (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 18,613 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 219% compared to the average volume of 5,838 call options.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total value of $192,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,389,971.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ardelyx news, insider Elizabeth A. Grammer sold 86,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.73, for a total transaction of $664,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 312,993 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,435.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total value of $192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,389,971.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 178,820 shares of company stock worth $1,400,524 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the third quarter valued at $848,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 57,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 15,554 shares during the last quarter. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 273,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 136,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARDX. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. SVB Leerink began coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.81.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

ARDX traded up $1.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $8.57. 17,202,844 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,162,479. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.87 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 4.64, a current ratio of 4.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Ardelyx has a 52-week low of $3.16 and a 52-week high of $10.13. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $7.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.75.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $46.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.40 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 303.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ardelyx will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

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.