Justin A. Renz Sells 5,171 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CFO Justin A. Renz sold 5,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $29,061.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 285,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,607,140.16. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Ardelyx stock traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5.06. 6,744,975 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,432,597. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 4.03 and a quick ratio of 3.87. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.85 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.64. Ardelyx, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.32 and a fifty-two week high of $9.83.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The firm had revenue of $116.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 46.60% and a negative net margin of 28.82%. On average, research analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Ardelyx by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,387,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $123,587,000 after buying an additional 2,858,061 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ardelyx by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,362,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $72,819,000 after buying an additional 767,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Ardelyx by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,141,850 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $83,657,000 after buying an additional 176,789 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its position in Ardelyx by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 7,413,049 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $51,076,000 after buying an additional 746,067 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ardelyx by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,509,730 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,941,000 after buying an additional 21,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARDX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price target on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.93.

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.