Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Trading 5.3% Higher After Insider Buying Activity

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) rose 5.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The company traded as high as $5.41 and last traded at $5.37. Approximately 360,250 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 4,246,100 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.10.

Specifically, Director David M. Mott acquired 77,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $5.00 per share, for a total transaction of $388,645.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,015,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,077,470. This trade represents a 4.01 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARDX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $13.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.93.

Ardelyx Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.50 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a current ratio of 4.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.33 and its 200-day moving average is $5.61.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The company had revenue of $116.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,387,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $123,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,858,061 shares during the last quarter. Two Seas Capital LP bought a new stake in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,407,000. Rock Springs Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,421,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 9,499.8% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,468,668 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,762,000. 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.