Diametric Capital LP Buys Shares of 21,154 Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Diametric Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 21,154 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $107,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Sheets Smith Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth $58,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 101.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,706 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 6,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,486 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 4,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ARDX shares. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded Ardelyx to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $27,768.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 303,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,378.48. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Mott bought 199,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.99 per share, for a total transaction of $993,010.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,937,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,669,447.35. This represents a 11.44 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 158,076 shares of company stock valued at $853,804. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ardelyx Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $4.88 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.50 and a beta of 0.87. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $9.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 4.58 and a quick ratio of 4.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $5.39 and a 200-day moving average of $5.49.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The firm had revenue of $116.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

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.