Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Purchases 72,940 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Key Points

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in Ardelyx, Inc. by 19.4%, acquiring an additional 72,940 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 448,407 shares valued at approximately $2.2 million.
• Ardelyx reported a $0.08 EPS for the recent quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and showing a 23% year-over-year revenue growth with total revenue reaching $97.66 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Ardelyx, with Piper Sandler setting a price objective of $9.00 and HC Wainwright introducing a $10.00 target, indicating market confidence in the company's growth potential.

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX - Free Report) by 19.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 448,407 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 72,940 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Ardelyx worth $2,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the first quarter worth about $49,000. Crestline Management LP acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth about $64,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the first quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, World Equity Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the first quarter worth about $85,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARDX. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $14.00 price objective (up from $13.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. HC Wainwright assumed coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $10.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $12.00 target price on Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ardelyx from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ardelyx from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardelyx has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $11.70.

Ardelyx Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARDX traded down $0.04 during trading on Thursday, hitting $6.60. 2,093,677 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,636,223. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52 week low of $3.21 and a 52 week high of $7.18. The company has a current ratio of 4.30, a quick ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.72 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.73.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, CFO Justin A. Renz sold 7,037 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total value of $41,729.41. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 409,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,425,678.36. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David M. Mott bought 200,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $3.63 per share, for a total transaction of $726,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,896,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,515,641.73. This represents a 7.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 165,551 shares of company stock worth $996,917 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

About Ardelyx

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.