Ardelyx’s (ARDX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

BTIG Research restated their buy rating on shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. BTIG Research currently has a $17.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler raised shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.36.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of ARDX stock opened at $7.69 on Thursday. Ardelyx has a 12 month low of $3.21 and a 12 month high of $8.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.43 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $6.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.84. The company has a current ratio of 4.41, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $110.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.44 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 36.91% and a negative net margin of 14.20%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ardelyx will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.98, for a total value of $349,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 361,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,523,709.74. This trade represents a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 46,887 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $259,753.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,455,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,062,711.02. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 114,868 shares of company stock valued at $708,369. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 34.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,843 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Ardelyx by 88.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,527,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600,080 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,369,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,215,000 after buying an additional 2,337,672 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Ardelyx by 1,987.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 865,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,768,000 after buying an additional 823,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ardelyx by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,312,363 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,064,000 after buying an additional 739,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

About Ardelyx

Ardelyx, Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX) is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing targeted small molecule drugs for cardio?renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead marketed product, tenapanor (sold under the brand name XPHOZAH in the United States), is approved for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Ardelyx’s proprietary approach targets epithelial transporters in the gastrointestinal tract, offering localized activity with limited systemic exposure.

Beyond tenapanor, Ardelyx’s development pipeline includes treatments designed to address other complications in kidney disease and related metabolic disorders.