Invesco Ltd. Acquires 52,584 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its shareholding in Ardelyx, Inc. by 42.1%, acquiring an additional 52,584 shares and now holds a total of 177,529 shares valued at approximately $872,000.
• Analysts have rated Ardelyx positively, with both Raymond James Financial and HC Wainwright issuing "strong-buy" and "buy" ratings while also setting target prices ranging from $10.00 to $14.00.
• Ardelyx recorded a 23.0% increase in revenue year-over-year, reporting $97.66 million in revenue for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX - Free Report) by 42.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 177,529 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 52,584 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.07% of Ardelyx worth $872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the 1st quarter valued at $144,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 836.5% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 22,063 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 19,707 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,067,528 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $10,152,000 after buying an additional 32,393 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 4.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,997,234 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $73,636,000 after purchasing an additional 634,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 67.6% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 24,785 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.92% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 45,687 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total value of $270,923.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,502,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,342.50. This represents a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric Duane Foster sold 15,308 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total value of $90,776.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 301,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,787,883.14. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 165,551 shares of company stock valued at $996,917 in the last ninety days. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on ARDX shares. UBS Group set a $12.00 price objective on Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a "strong-buy" rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $14.00 price objective (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ardelyx from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, HC Wainwright began coverage on Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $10.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $11.70.

Ardelyx Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ARDX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $6.56. 2,986,583 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,367,262. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5.23 and a 200-day moving average of $4.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of -28.52 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 4.30, a quick ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.21 and a 1-year high of $7.18.

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

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.