Wedbush Raises Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Price Target to $14.00

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its price target hoisted by Wedbush from $13.00 to $14.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Ardelyx’s Q1 2024 earnings at ($0.12) EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at ($0.09) EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at ($0.08) EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.04) EPS, FY2024 earnings at ($0.33) EPS and FY2027 earnings at $1.29 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Ardelyx from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Leerink Partnrs restated an outperform rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $12.69.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARDX opened at $6.48 on Wednesday. Ardelyx has a 12 month low of $3.16 and a 12 month high of $10.13. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.60 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.59. 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 (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) EPS 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 firm had revenue of $34.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. Ardelyx’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardelyx news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 15,344 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 15,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $200,523.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,319,951 shares in the company, valued at $11,549,571.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,820 shares of company stock worth $1,208,524. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardelyx

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ardelyx by 47.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,437,564 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $76,063,000 after acquiring an additional 7,234,448 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Ardelyx by 278.7% during the 2nd 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 position in Ardelyx by 12.6% during the 4th 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 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 acquiring an additional 4,110,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter worth $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.