Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX Shares Purchased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,369,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,337,672 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Ardelyx worth $101,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARDX. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 34.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,103,000 after buying an additional 2,866,843 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 88.8% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,527,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600,080 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Ardelyx by 10.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,378,738 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,680,000 after buying an additional 221,486 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ardelyx by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,312,363 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,064,000 after buying an additional 739,300 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Ardelyx by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,873,903 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,381,000 after buying an additional 30,716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Stock Up 6.9%

Shares of ARDX opened at $6.65 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.17. The company has a quick ratio of 4.11, a current ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of -26.60 and a beta of 0.61. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.21 and a 52-week high of $8.40.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $125.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.04 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 8,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $47,829.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 436,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,551,079.70. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric Duane Foster sold 10,439 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $61,068.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 425,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,491,924.50. The trade was a 2.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 136,938 shares of company stock valued at $857,587. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $16.00 in a report on Thursday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.09.

About Ardelyx

Ardelyx, Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX) is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing targeted small molecule drugs for cardio‐renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead marketed product, tenapanor (sold under the brand name XPHOZAH in the United States), is approved for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Ardelyx’s proprietary approach targets epithelial transporters in the gastrointestinal tract, offering localized activity with limited systemic exposure.

Beyond tenapanor, Ardelyx’s development pipeline includes treatments designed to address other complications in kidney disease and related metabolic disorders.