Jones Financial Companies Lllp Increases Stock Holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 67.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,452,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 583,550 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $7,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 101.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,706 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 6,915 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $121,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, Director David M. Mott acquired 77,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $5.00 per share, for a total transaction of $388,645.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,015,494 shares in the company, valued at $10,077,470. This represents a 4.01 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $27,768.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,707,378.48. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 490,029 shares of company stock worth $2,377,766 and have sold 141,408 shares worth $761,963. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.93.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Ardelyx stock opened at $5.08 on Tuesday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.32 and a 1 year high of $9.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a current ratio of 4.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.61. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.75 and a beta of 0.85.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The company had revenue of $116.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. Sell-side analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share 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.