Sheets Smith Investment Management Takes Position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Sheets Smith Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,393 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARDX. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the 3rd quarter valued at $423,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,938,778 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,358,000 after buying an additional 40,702 shares during the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 20.5% in the third quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 74,137 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 12,601 shares in the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 2.8% in the third quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 546,410 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,765,000 after buying an additional 14,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Propel Bio Management LLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 15.8% in the third quarter. Propel Bio Management LLC now owns 1,070,947 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,379,000 after buying an additional 146,364 shares in the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $5.13 on Monday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.32 and a 1 year 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 market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.06 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $5.43 and a 200-day moving average of $5.54.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,707,378.48. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.31, for a total value of $221,246.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,997,921.12. The trade was a 3.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 158,076 shares of company stock worth $853,804. 5.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARDX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised Ardelyx to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.95.

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.