Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 959,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 179,192 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.39% of Ardelyx worth $5,594,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARDX. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Ardelyx by 34.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,843 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 88.8% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,527,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,670,000 after buying an additional 2,600,080 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 14.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,369,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,337,672 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Ardelyx by 1,987.6% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 865,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,768,000 after acquiring an additional 823,810 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ardelyx by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,312,363 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,064,000 after purchasing an additional 739,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.98, for a total value of $349,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 361,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,523,709.74. This represents a 12.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 45,982 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total transaction of $268,994.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,856,986 shares in the company, valued at $10,863,368.10. This trade represents a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 178,604 shares of company stock valued at $1,100,917. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $5.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $6.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.10. Ardelyx, Inc. has a one year low of $3.21 and a one year high of $8.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.92 and a beta of 0.61.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The firm had revenue of $125.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ARDX shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Leerink Partners reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their price target on Ardelyx from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.70.

Ardelyx Company Profile

Ardelyx, Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX) is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing targeted small molecule drugs for cardio‐renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead marketed product, tenapanor (sold under the brand name XPHOZAH in the United States), is approved for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Ardelyx’s proprietary approach targets epithelial transporters in the gastrointestinal tract, offering localized activity with limited systemic exposure.

Beyond tenapanor, Ardelyx’s development pipeline includes treatments designed to address other complications in kidney disease and related metabolic disorders.