Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX Shares Sold by Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. decreased its position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 305,230 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 97,000 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. owned 0.13% of Ardelyx worth $1,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 88.8% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,527,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $21,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600,080 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ardelyx by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,369,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,215,000 after buying an additional 2,337,672 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 1,987.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 865,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,768,000 after buying an additional 823,810 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,190,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX stock opened at $6.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.04 and a beta of 0.66. Ardelyx, Inc. has a one year low of $3.21 and a one year high of $8.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.31.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The firm had revenue of $125.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post 0.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.84, for a total value of $243,329.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,816,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,608,056.32. The trade was a 2.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric Duane Foster sold 10,439 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total transaction of $61,068.15. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 425,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,491,924.50. This represents a 2.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 128,604 shares of company stock valued at $751,917 over the last quarter. 4.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $17.00 target price on Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.70.

Ardelyx Profile

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.