HC Wainwright Initiates Coverage on Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Investment analysts at HC Wainwright started coverage on shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $10.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. HC Wainwright's target price suggests a potential upside of 180.90% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ARDX. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank started coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ardelyx from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Ardelyx to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $10.89.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,483,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,522,267. The company has a market cap of $851.75 million, a PE ratio of -16.18 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 4.12, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $4.10 and a 200-day moving average of $4.82. Ardelyx has a 52 week low of $3.21 and a 52 week high of $8.06.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $74.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 14.86% and a negative return on equity of 34.45%. The business's revenue was up 61.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Justin A. Renz sold 7,218 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.08, for a total value of $29,449.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 416,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,697,643.12. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Mott purchased 200,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $3.63 per share, for a total transaction of $726,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,896,871 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,515,641.73. This trade represents a 7.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 881,377 shares of company stock worth $3,402,411 and have sold 166,809 shares worth $708,914. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ardelyx in the first quarter valued at $49,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company's stock.

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.