Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) to Strong-Buy

Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ARDX. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardelyx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.44.

Ardelyx Trading Up 6.5 %

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $5.41 on Tuesday. Ardelyx has a one year low of $4.32 and a one year high of $9.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $5.36 and its 200-day moving average is $5.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.81 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 4.58 and a quick ratio of 4.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardelyx news, CEO Michael Raab sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.26, for a total value of $131,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,150,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,051,025.10. This represents a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Mott bought 213,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.67 per share, with a total value of $996,111.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,638,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,653,032.55. This represents a 14.96 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 490,029 shares of company stock valued at $2,377,766 and sold 141,408 shares valued at $761,963. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 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.