Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 152,389 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,208 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, Laurion Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the 3rd quarter valued at $81,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ARDX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Ardelyx in a research report on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardelyx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.69.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Ardelyx stock opened at $6.39 on Wednesday. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.16 and a 52-week high of $10.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.30 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.66. The company has a quick ratio of 4.64, a current ratio of 4.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $34.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was down 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,255,186.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other 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 value of $52,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,310,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,255,186.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 5,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total transaction of $47,683.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 175,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,618,611.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,820 shares of company stock valued at $1,208,524 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx 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.