New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 7,705 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 283,648 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,705 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $1,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ARDX. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Ardelyx by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,112 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardelyx in the fourth quarter worth $93,000. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardelyx during the third quarter worth $63,000. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Justin A. Renz sold 5,341 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.75, for a total transaction of $46,733.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 304,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,667,306.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ardelyx news, insider Robert Blanks sold 5,017 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 $43,898.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 368,186 shares in the company, valued at $3,221,627.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Justin A. Renz sold 5,341 shares of Ardelyx 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 304,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,667,306.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 203,425 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,241. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on ARDX shares. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, April 5th. 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 report on Friday, April 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Ardelyx from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.81.

Ardelyx Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARDX opened at $8.48 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.29 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 4.53 and a quick ratio of 4.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.92. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.16 and a 1 year high of $10.13.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $46.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 41.65% and a negative net margin of 41.36%. Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was up 303.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current 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.