Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Makes New $832,000 Investment in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 112,325 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ARDX. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 1,026.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 3,233 shares in the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the 1st quarter valued at about $86,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ardelyx Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of ARDX opened at $6.22 on Friday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.16 and a 1-year high of $10.13. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 3.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $73.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.03 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 39.73% and a negative net margin of 31.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 228.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert Blanks sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $226,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 324,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,012.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ardelyx news, insider Robert Blanks sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $226,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 324,331 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,012.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total transaction of $46,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,219,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,585,345.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,560 shares of company stock worth $971,020. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ardelyx from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Ardelyx from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.67.

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.