Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 11,731 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 328% compared to the typical volume of 2,743 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARDX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Ardelyx from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research lowered Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARDX. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at about $52,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at about $56,000. Krilogy Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the first quarter valued at about $70,000. Finally, PVG Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the first quarter valued at about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of Ardelyx stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $3.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 573,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,274,778. The company has a market capitalization of $968.35 million, a P/E ratio of -17.75 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.77. Ardelyx has a one year low of $3.72 and a one year high of $8.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a current ratio of 3.34.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 36.00% and a negative net margin of 12.35%.The business had revenue of $120.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 34.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardelyx Company Profile

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.