Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) Price Target Lowered to $8.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) had its price target reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $11.00 to $8.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 51.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ARDX. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. HC Wainwright downgraded Ardelyx from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $5.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.07.

Ardelyx Trading Up 3.9 %

ARDX stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $5.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,812,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,881,870. Ardelyx has a 52-week low of $4.32 and a 52-week high of $10.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In other news, Director David M. Mott acquired 213,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $4.67 per share, for a total transaction of $996,111.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,638,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,032.55. This represents a 14.96 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 27,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.10, for a total value of $165,743.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 153,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $937,057.60. This represents a 15.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,192 shares of company stock worth $1,013,345 in the last three months. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ardelyx

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 1.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 387,144 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,667,000 after acquiring an additional 6,093 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 3.4% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 90,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,487,742 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,818,000 after buying an additional 17,296 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Ardelyx by 24.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 547,325 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 109,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,141,850 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $83,657,000 after acquiring an additional 176,789 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.