Values First Advisors Inc. Makes New $93,000 Investment in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 15,020 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 235.9% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,733 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 4,026 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARDX traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $7.30. 6,718,669 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,321,907. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 4.88 and a quick ratio of 4.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.33 and a beta of 0.88. Ardelyx, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.16 and a fifty-two week high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $34.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.26 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 43.57% and a negative net margin of 53.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ARDX shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Raymond James raised their target price on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 5,183 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total value of $47,683.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 175,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,611.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,917 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total value of $200,523.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,319,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,549,571.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 5,183 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total value of $47,683.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 175,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,611.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 169,802 shares of company stock valued at $1,343,678 in the last three months. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ardelyx Profile

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.