Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Stock Price

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $11.00 to $8.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 60.97% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $11.00 to $5.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardelyx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.07.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $4.97 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.73. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.57 and a beta of 0.83. 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 has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $10.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David M. Mott acquired 213,300 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.67 per share, with a total value of $996,111.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,638,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,032.55. This trade represents a 14.96 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.91, for a total value of $147,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,210,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,151,738.28. The trade was a 2.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 184,192 shares of company stock worth $1,013,345 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1.5% in 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 period. Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its position in Ardelyx by 11.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,487,742 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,818,000 after buying an additional 17,296 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Ardelyx by 142.8% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,203,090 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,060,191 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $21,085,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243,606 shares during the last quarter. 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.