Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Buys 33,877 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 59.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,302 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,877 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $566,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARDX. Raymond James & Associates acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ardelyx by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,565,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,188,000 after buying an additional 97,951 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Ardelyx by 1.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,150,743 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,695,000 after buying an additional 20,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Ardelyx by 1,183.6% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 549,695 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after buying an additional 506,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Raymond James upped their target price on Ardelyx from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Ardelyx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, January 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardelyx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardelyx news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total transaction of $52,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,310,933 shares in the company, valued at $9,255,186.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Justin A. Renz sold 5,341 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total value of $46,733.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,667,306.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $52,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,255,186.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,820 shares of company stock worth $1,208,524 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ARDX stock opened at $6.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.88, a quick ratio of 4.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.47 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.57. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.16 and a 1 year high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.03). Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 43.57% and a negative net margin of 53.08%. The business had revenue of $34.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardelyx Company Profile

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.