HC Wainwright Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $5.50 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price indicates a potential downside of 3.85% from the company’s previous close.

ARDX has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.42.

Ardelyx Stock Down 10.1 %

NASDAQ:ARDX opened at $5.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.07 and a beta of 0.85. Ardelyx has a 1-year low of $4.32 and a 1-year high of $9.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $5.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 4.03 and a quick ratio of 3.87.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.02. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 28.82% and a negative return on equity of 46.60%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.36, for a total transaction of $223,329.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,108,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,942,733.84. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David M. Mott acquired 213,300 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.67 per share, with a total value of $996,111.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,638,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,032.55. The trade was a 14.96 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 133,332 shares of company stock worth $710,576 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARDX. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.