Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Shares Gap Down to $7.57

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) shares gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $7.57, but opened at $6.25. Ardelyx shares last traded at $6.15, with a volume of 2,790,226 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ARDX shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ardelyx from $14.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler downgraded Ardelyx from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday. SVB Leerink started coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.31.

Ardelyx Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.00 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $6.97 and a 200 day moving average of $7.63. The company has a quick ratio of 4.36, a current ratio of 4.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $46.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 41.65% and a negative net margin of 41.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 303.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total value of $1,832,374.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 95,947 shares in the company, valued at $845,293.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total value of $1,832,374.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 95,947 shares in the company, valued at $845,293.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Blanks sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $226,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 324,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,012.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 534,119 shares of company stock worth $4,117,225. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Ardelyx by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,112 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Ardelyx by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 30,269 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ardelyx by 8.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 57,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 4,735 shares during the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ardelyx during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 7,117 shares during the period. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ardelyx

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.