BTIG Research Reiterates Buy Rating for Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at BTIG Research in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective points to a potential upside of 116.28% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.36.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $7.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 4.41 and a quick ratio of 4.11. Ardelyx has a one year low of $3.21 and a one year high of $8.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.17 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.31 and a 200 day moving average of $5.79.

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

Insider Activity

In other Ardelyx news, CEO Michael Raab sold 46,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total transaction of $259,753.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,455,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,062,711.02. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.98, for a total value of $349,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 361,563 shares in the company, valued at $2,523,709.74. The trade was a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 114,868 shares of company stock valued at $708,369 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,103,000 after buying an additional 2,866,843 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at $708,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at $2,176,000. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the third quarter worth $1,094,000. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. raised its stake in Ardelyx by 225.9% during the second quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 716,122 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after purchasing an additional 496,410 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

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.