47,869 Shares in Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX Purchased by FORA Capital LLC

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC has acquired 47,869 shares of Ardelyx, Inc., valued at approximately $235,000, marking a significant investment in the biopharmaceutical company.
• Analysts have set varying price targets for Ardelyx, with Raymond James raising its price objective to $12.00 and eight analysts giving it a Buy rating, signifying positive market sentiment.
• Ardelyx reported a 23% increase in quarterly revenue, reaching $97.66 million, while also beating earnings estimates with an EPS of ($0.08), better than the forecast of ($0.13).

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 47,869 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ARDX. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the first quarter worth $16,735,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,387,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $123,587,000 after buying an additional 2,858,061 shares during the last quarter. Two Seas Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth $9,407,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 9,499.8% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,468,668 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,446,000 after buying an additional 1,453,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth $6,762,000. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARDX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group set a $12.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $14.00 target price (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $11.70.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In other news, Director David M. Mott purchased 200,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.63 per share, with a total value of $726,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,896,871 shares in the company, valued at $10,515,641.73. The trade was a 7.42% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric Duane Foster sold 15,308 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total transaction of $90,776.44. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 301,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,787,883.14. This trade represents a 4.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 165,551 shares of company stock valued at $996,917. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Ardelyx Stock Performance

Shares of ARDX traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $6.57. 4,155,700 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,397,932. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.21 and a 1-year high of $7.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of -28.56 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 4.03 and a current ratio of 4.30. The business's 50 day moving average price is $5.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.71.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.05. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 14.60% and a negative return on equity of 36.57%. The company had revenue of $97.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.07) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS 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.