New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 7,705 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 283,648 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 7,705 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.12% of Ardelyx worth $1,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARDX. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the fourth quarter valued at about $74,000. Laurion Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the third quarter worth about $81,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,112 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,917 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $200,523.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,319,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,549,571.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ardelyx news, insider Robert Blanks sold 5,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total value of $43,898.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 368,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,221,627.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $200,523.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,319,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,549,571.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 203,425 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,241. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.81.

Ardelyx Price Performance

ARDX opened at $8.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.29 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $7.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.92. The company has a current ratio of 4.53, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12-month low of $3.16 and a 12-month high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $46.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 41.36% and a negative return on equity of 41.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 303.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.13) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.