Trexquant Investment LP Acquires 702,487 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 344.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 906,311 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 702,487 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $4,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ardelyx by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,362,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $72,819,000 after buying an additional 767,111 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,141,850 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $83,657,000 after acquiring an additional 176,789 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,509,730 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,941,000 after purchasing an additional 21,988 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ardelyx by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,035,135 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,318,000 after purchasing an additional 96,357 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Ardelyx by 67.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,452,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,363,000 after purchasing an additional 583,550 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Price Performance

NASDAQ ARDX opened at $4.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $9.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.44 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average is $5.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.47.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The firm had revenue of $116.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.16 million. Ardelyx had a negative net margin of 11.73% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARDX. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Ardelyx in a report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.50 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Ardelyx to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 41,666 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.31, for a total transaction of $221,246.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,129,552 shares in the company, valued at $5,997,921.12. This trade represents a 3.56 % 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, insider Laura A. Williams sold 4,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total transaction of $27,768.42. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 303,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,378.48. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 158,076 shares of company stock valued at $853,804 over the last ninety days. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.