Palisades Investment Partners LLC Cuts Position in Ardelyx, Inc. $ARDX

Palisades Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 98.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,147 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 511,093 shares during the quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DCF Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the second quarter worth about $40,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the 2nd quarter worth about $61,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Ardelyx by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 16,854 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 3,709 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Stock Down 2.0%

ARDX stock opened at $7.77 on Friday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a one year low of $3.21 and a one year high of $8.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of -33.78 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.41.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARDX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised Ardelyx from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, October 31st. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Ardelyx from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $14.30.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In other news, insider Laura A. Williams sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.98, for a total transaction of $349,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 361,563 shares in the company, valued at $2,523,709.74. This trade represents a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 46,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.54, for a total value of $259,753.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,455,363 shares in the company, valued at $8,062,711.02. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 114,868 shares of company stock valued at $708,369 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

About Ardelyx

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.