Traders Buy Large Volume of Ardelyx Call Options (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 6,070 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 309% compared to the average daily volume of 1,483 call options.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.12, for a total transaction of $489,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 366,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,890.64. This represents a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 45,687 shares of the business’s 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 $270,923.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,502,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,342.50. This trade represents a 2.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 165,551 shares of company stock worth $996,917 over the last ninety days. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardelyx

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ardelyx in the third quarter valued at $233,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $915,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Ardelyx by 163.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 36,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 22,827 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Ardelyx by 24.2% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 15,263 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 2,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jain Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the third quarter worth about $74,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARDX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.73.

Ardelyx Stock Down 4.7%

Shares of Ardelyx stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 856,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,413,907. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.93. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.06 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 4.03, a current ratio of 4.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. Ardelyx has a 1-year low of $3.21 and a 1-year high of $6.78.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.06. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 14.60% and a negative return on equity of 36.57%. The firm had revenue of $110.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.44 million. The business’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ardelyx will post -0.18 earnings per share 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.