Wedbush Raises Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Price Target to $14.00

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its target price raised by Wedbush from $13.00 to $14.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ardelyx from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Leerink Partnrs reissued an outperform rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $12.69.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $6.55 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $8.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.57. Ardelyx has a one year low of $3.16 and a one year high of $10.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 4.88 and a quick ratio of 4.64. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of -21.83 and a beta of 0.85.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 43.57% and a negative net margin of 53.08%. The company had revenue of $34.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ardelyx will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total transaction of $52,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at $9,255,186.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 5,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total transaction of $47,683.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 175,936 shares in the company, valued at $1,618,611.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total transaction of $52,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at $9,255,186.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,820 shares of company stock worth $1,208,524 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARDX. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 81.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 549,816 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 246,147 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,700,576 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,100,000 after buying an additional 71,592 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 7.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,127,557 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,276,000 after buying an additional 139,484 shares during the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the first quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Worth Venture Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 39.4% during the first quarter. Worth Venture Partners LLC now owns 768,036 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 217,061 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.