Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Shares Down 8.1% After Insider Selling

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)’s share price was down 8.1% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $8.54 and last traded at $8.56. Approximately 3,073,703 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 6,265,205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.31.

Specifically, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total transaction of $1,832,374.28. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 95,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $845,293.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 5,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total value of $47,683.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 175,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,618,611.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Ora Felsch sold 207,988 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total transaction of $1,832,374.28. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 95,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $845,293.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 411,413 shares of company stock valued at $3,425,615 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARDX. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. SVB Leerink started coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, April 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.81.

Ardelyx Stock Down 5.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.79 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.53, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $7.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.93.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $46.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.13) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at $341,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 8.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 57,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 100.7% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 536,297 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,915,000 after purchasing an additional 269,046 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 6.7% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 458,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 28,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 347.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 122,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $897,000 after purchasing an additional 95,361 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.