Mike Kelliher Sells 9,595 Shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) insider Mike Kelliher sold 9,595 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $56,130.75. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 364,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,296.10. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Ardelyx Stock Up 14.1%

ARDX opened at $6.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.24 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.14. Ardelyx, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.21 and a twelve month high of $8.40.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $125.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.04 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Ardelyx

Here are the key news stories impacting Ardelyx this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director David M. Mott bought 333,333 shares (~$1.95M) at about $5.84, increasing his stake ~11.2% — a strong insider vote of confidence that can support the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Ardelyx announced a multi‑year partnership with the LPGA to raise awareness and reduce stigma around digestive health — a marketing push that could help commercial uptake of XPHOZAH/brand awareness over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong — Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform with a $19 target and other firms (BTIG, HC Wainwright, Jefferies, Citi) have reiterated buys or raised targets, which can attract buyers. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Quarterly revenue beat estimates ($125.2M vs. $118.0M) and revenue grew ~7.8% y/y — constructive fundamental data but partially offset by the EPS miss.
• Neutral Sentiment: Post‑results commentary includes valuation and guidance analysis (coverage piece on Yahoo Finance reviewing 2025 results and 2026 guidance) — useful for longer‑term investors assessing upside vs. risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Ardelyx missed EPS expectations (reported a small loss vs. a modest expected profit), which triggered a post‑earnings pullback and adds short‑term risk for the shares. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders (including CEO Michael Raab, CFO Susan Hohenleitner and several executives) sold shares around Feb. 20 (CEO sold ~45,982 shares), which can be perceived as profit‑taking and may pressure sentiment despite the director buy. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler raised Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on Ardelyx from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.09.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARDX. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ardelyx by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 317,410 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,851,000 after purchasing an additional 59,597 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 38,512 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 199,550 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 22,715 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1,690.9% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 17,909 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 16,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at about $698,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ardelyx

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.