Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Michael Raab Sells 22,964 Shares

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Michael Raab sold 22,964 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $129,057.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,085,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,101,943.10. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Michael Raab also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 31st, Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of Ardelyx stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.36, for a total transaction of $223,329.76.
• On Tuesday, January 7th, Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of Ardelyx stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.31, for a total transaction of $221,246.46.
• On Tuesday, December 10th, Michael Raab sold 25,000 shares of Ardelyx stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.26, for a total transaction of $131,500.00.
• On Monday, November 25th, Michael Raab sold 25,000 shares of Ardelyx stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.38, for a total transaction of $134,500.00.

Ardelyx Stock Down 11.6 %

Shares of ARDX opened at $5.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of -16.85 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5.30 and a 200 day moving average of $5.64. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.32 and a 52-week high of $9.83. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. The company had revenue of $116.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 46.60% and a negative net margin of 28.82%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Ardelyx by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,387,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $123,587,000 after buying an additional 2,858,061 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,362,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $72,819,000 after purchasing an additional 767,111 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,141,850 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $83,657,000 after purchasing an additional 176,789 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 11.2% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 7,413,049 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $51,076,000 after purchasing an additional 746,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,509,730 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,941,000 after purchasing an additional 21,988 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.93.

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.