Marshall Wace LLP Grows Holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 34.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,250,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,866,843 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $44,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ardelyx by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,997,234 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $73,636,000 after buying an additional 634,575 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ardelyx by 118.2% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,465,262 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after acquiring an additional 3,501,782 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the first quarter valued at approximately $16,735,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 10.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,378,738 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,680,000 after purchasing an additional 221,486 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Ardelyx by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,172,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,669,000 after purchasing an additional 21,845 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Price Performance

ARDX opened at $5.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of -26.00 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 4.41 and a quick ratio of 4.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is $5.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.11. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.21 and a 1 year high of $6.78.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.06. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 14.20% and a negative return on equity of 36.91%. The business had revenue of $110.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.44 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ardelyx news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 6,426 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $35,600.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 359,896 shares in the company, valued at $1,993,823.84. This trade represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 46,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $259,753.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,455,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,062,711.02. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 64,868 shares of company stock worth $359,369. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ardelyx from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.73.

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.