Piper Sandler Downgrades Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) to Neutral

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $7.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $15.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 31.58% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. SVB Leerink started coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.31.

Ardelyx Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARDX opened at $5.32 on Tuesday. Ardelyx has a 12-month low of $3.16 and a 12-month high of $10.13. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of -19.00 and a beta of 0.83. The business 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $46.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue was up 303.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $52,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,255,186.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $52,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,255,186.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were 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 owns 95,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $845,293.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 534,119 shares of company stock valued at $4,117,225. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARDX. HighMark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Ardelyx during the 1st quarter worth $64,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.