Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Sells 147,000 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 41.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 210,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 147,000 shares during the quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $1,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 328.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,814 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 9,821 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 101.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,706 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 6,915 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 29.4% during the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 23,510 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 5,346 shares during the period. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ARDX shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.42.

Ardelyx Trading Down 10.1 %

Shares of ARDX stock opened at $5.72 on Friday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.32 and a 52-week high of $9.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a current ratio of 4.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.64. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.07 and a beta of 0.85.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 28.82% and a negative return on equity of 46.60%. Research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David M. Mott bought 199,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.99 per share, with a total value of $993,010.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,937,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,669,447.35. The trade was a 11.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.26, for a total transaction of $131,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,150,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,051,025.10. This represents a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,332 shares of company stock valued at $710,576. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Company 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.