Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes $83,000 Position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 16,331 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Two Seas Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth $9,407,000. Rock Springs Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx in the 4th quarter worth about $7,421,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ardelyx by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,362,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $72,819,000 after acquiring an additional 767,111 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in Ardelyx by 344.7% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 906,311 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,595,000 after acquiring an additional 702,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth about $3,296,000. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARDX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5.50 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank began coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardelyx currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.39.

Ardelyx Stock Down 9.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARDX opened at $3.73 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 4.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $889.07 million, a PE ratio of -23.31 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $4.98 and a 200-day moving average of $5.23. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.62 and a 52-week high of $9.33.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $74.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 11.73%. The business’s revenue was up 61.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.25, for a total transaction of $177,080.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,594,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,704.50. This represents a 2.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Mott acquired 381,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.22 per share, for a total transaction of $1,609,410.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,396,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,114,795.62. This trade represents a 18.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 158,076 shares of company stock worth $777,555. Company insiders own 5.90% 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.