1,333,810 Shares in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Purchased by Point72 Asset Management L.P.

Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,333,810 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,762,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 11,315 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 8,391 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David M. Mott purchased 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $3.29 per share, with a total value of $329,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,496,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,214,705.59. This represents a 4.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $27,768.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,378.48. This represents a 1.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 559,106 shares of company stock valued at $2,327,056 and have sold 158,076 shares valued at $777,555. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARDX. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Ardelyx to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.39.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Ardelyx stock opened at $4.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.07. The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $971.38 million, a PE ratio of -25.38 and a beta of 0.76. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.21 and a 1-year high of $8.06.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $74.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 11.73%. The business’s revenue was up 61.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.