Squarepoint Ops LLC Purchases 363,894 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 375.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 460,689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 363,894 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $3,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its position in Ardelyx by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,012,753 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512,753 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,391,855 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,761,000 after purchasing an additional 365,809 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ardelyx by 37.2% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 438,827 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after purchasing an additional 118,879 shares in the last quarter. Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 154.7% during the second quarter. Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC now owns 232,377 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 141,145 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Ardelyx by 100.7% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 536,297 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,915,000 after buying an additional 269,046 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 49,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.92, for a total value of $342,982.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 301,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,089,466.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ardelyx news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 49,564 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.92, for a total transaction of $342,982.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 301,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,089,466.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.61, for a total transaction of $196,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,220,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,847,610.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 217,126 shares of company stock worth $1,320,113. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Ardelyx from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $15.00 to $7.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.67.

Ardelyx Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $6.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $5.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.54. Ardelyx, Inc. has a one year low of $3.16 and a one year high of $10.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 3.99 and a current ratio of 4.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.46 and a beta of 0.90.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.04. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 31.02% and a negative return on equity of 39.73%. The business had revenue of $73.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was up 228.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.26 EPS for the current fiscal 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.