Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Trading Down 2.9%

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 2.9% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $7.26 and last traded at $7.28. 673,530 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,246,084 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ARDX shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ardelyx from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $12.56.

Ardelyx Stock Down 2.4 %

The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.37 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 4.88 and a quick ratio of 4.64. The company's 50-day moving average is $8.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.42.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 43.57% and a negative net margin of 53.08%. The business had revenue of $34.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. The company's revenue was down 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 15,344 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $140,857.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 384,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,525,138.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 15,344 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total value of $140,857.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 384,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,525,138.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Grammer sold 86,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.73, for a total transaction of $664,780.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 312,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,419,435.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 141,320 shares of company stock worth $1,155,574 in the last 90 days. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ardelyx by 47.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,437,564 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $76,063,000 after purchasing an additional 7,234,448 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 278.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,030,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $47,563,000 after acquiring an additional 10,325,699 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ardelyx by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,026,046 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $80,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460,246 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 152.5% during the 4th quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 6,805,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $42,194,000 after buying an additional 4,110,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Ardelyx in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,950,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.