Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 56.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,200 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 169,684 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 1.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 387,144 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,667,000 after purchasing an additional 6,093 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ardelyx by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,362,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $72,819,000 after acquiring an additional 767,111 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 109,285 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,035,135 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,318,000 after acquiring an additional 96,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 326,124 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 6,070 shares during the period. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARDX has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded Ardelyx to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James lowered shares of Ardelyx from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.39.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $27,768.42. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,378.48. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,964 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $129,057.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,085,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,101,943.10. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,076 shares of company stock valued at $777,555 in the last three months. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ardelyx Price Performance

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $3.62 on Friday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12-month low of $3.50 and a 12-month high of $8.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.18. 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 $866.10 million, a P/E ratio of -22.63 and a beta of 0.76.

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