Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 959,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 179,192 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $5,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARDX. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ardelyx by 147.0% during the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 10,253 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 6,102 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the second quarter valued at approximately $61,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ardelyx during the third quarter worth $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric Duane Foster sold 10,439 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $61,068.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 425,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,491,924.50. This trade represents a 2.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph James Reilly sold 4,991 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.85, for a total value of $29,197.35. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 151,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $887,971.50. This represents a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 178,604 shares of company stock worth $1,100,917 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARDX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $16.00 in a report on Thursday, January 8th. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.70.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Ardelyx stock opened at $5.48 on Monday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.21 and a twelve month high of $8.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.10. The company has a current ratio of 4.31, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.92 and a beta of 0.61.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 15.12% and a negative return on equity of 40.63%. The company had revenue of $125.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardelyx Company Profile

Ardelyx, Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX) is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing targeted small molecule drugs for cardio?renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s lead marketed product, tenapanor (sold under the brand name XPHOZAH in the United States), is approved for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Ardelyx’s proprietary approach targets epithelial transporters in the gastrointestinal tract, offering localized activity with limited systemic exposure.

Beyond tenapanor, Ardelyx’s development pipeline includes treatments designed to address other complications in kidney disease and related metabolic disorders.