Laura A. Williams Sells 4,941 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $27,768.42. Following the sale, the insider now owns 303,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,378.48. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ardelyx Stock Down 11.6 %

Shares of Ardelyx stock opened at $5.06 on Friday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.32 and a 1 year high of $9.83. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.59 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.63.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. The business had revenue of $116.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 25.74%. As a group, analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ARDX shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.