Walleye Capital LLC Invests $709,000 in Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Key Points

• Walleye Capital LLC has acquired a new stake in Ardelyx, Inc., purchasing 144,304 shares valued at approximately $709,000 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have recently increased their holdings in Ardelyx, with Northern Trust Corp and Russell Investments Group Ltd. increasing their positions significantly.
• Ardelyx reported a revenue increase of 23.0% year-over-year in its latest earnings results, with earnings per share topping analysts' consensus estimates.

Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 144,304 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $709,000. Walleye Capital LLC owned about 0.06% of Ardelyx at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Ardelyx by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 73,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 154,625 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1,342.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 5,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Palisades Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1.1% in the first quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 523,345 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,569,000 after purchasing an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 80,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.12, for a total transaction of $489,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 366,322 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,890.64. The trade was a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Grammer sold 5,841 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total transaction of $34,637.13. Following the sale, the insider owned 305,890 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,813,927.70. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 165,551 shares of company stock valued at $996,917 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ARDX. HC Wainwright began coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $10.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $14.00 target price (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a "strong-buy" rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $11.70.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of ARDX stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $6.51. The stock had a trading volume of 2,376,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,674,393. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $5.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.71. 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 12 month low of $3.21 and a 12 month high of $7.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of -28.32 and a beta of 0.74.

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. 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 analyst estimates of $82.69 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.07) earnings per share. Ardelyx's revenue was up 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current 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.