Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) Shares Sold by Voya Investment Management LLC

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 70,160 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,517 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,296,000. Syon Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,000. Harvest Investment Services LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,423,000. Finally, Rock Springs Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,421,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $129,057.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,085,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,101,943.10. The trade was a 2.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,378.48. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 158,076 shares of company stock valued at $777,555. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ARDX. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH restated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Ardelyx from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Ardelyx from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.39.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARDX opened at $3.62 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $866.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.63 and a beta of 0.76. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52 week low of $3.50 and a 52 week high of $8.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $4.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.17. The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $74.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. Ardelyx’s revenue was up 61.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.11) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share 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.