Insider Selling: Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) CEO Michael Raab sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total value of $192,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,389,971.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Michael Raab also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 15th, Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of Ardelyx stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $52,950.00.
• On Monday, April 1st, Michael Raab sold 1,518 shares of Ardelyx stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.31, for a total value of $11,096.58.
• On Tuesday, February 20th, Michael Raab sold 22,917 shares of Ardelyx stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $200,523.75.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARDX opened at $6.61 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.03 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 4.88 and a quick ratio of 4.64. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.16 and a 1-year high of $10.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $7.71 and a 200-day moving average of $6.75.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 53.08% and a negative return on equity of 43.57%. The firm had revenue of $34.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.26 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ARDX. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.69.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 347.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 122,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 95,361 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ardelyx by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 44,754 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 17,903 shares in the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the first quarter worth approximately $64,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 37.2% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 438,827 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,203,000 after buying an additional 118,879 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.