Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases New Position in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 281,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,423,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 387,144 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,667,000 after acquiring an additional 6,093 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $72,819,000 after purchasing an additional 767,111 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Ardelyx by 24.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 547,325 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,770,000 after purchasing an additional 109,285 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $10,318,000 after purchasing an additional 96,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 326,124 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after buying an additional 6,070 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ardelyx Stock Down 24.5 %

NASDAQ:ARDX opened at $4.13 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $984.41 million, a P/E ratio of -25.81 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 4.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Ardelyx, Inc. has a 12-month low of $4.02 and a 12-month high of $9.33.

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $74.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.40 million. Ardelyx had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 11.73%. Ardelyx’s quarterly revenue was up 61.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ardelyx, Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, CEO Michael Raab sold 22,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.62, for a total value of $129,057.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,085,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,101,943.10. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Mott purchased 77,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.00 per share, for a total transaction of $388,645.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,015,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,077,470. This trade represents a 4.01 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,410 shares of company stock worth $600,475. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ARDX. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Raymond James lowered shares of Ardelyx from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Ardelyx in a report on Friday, March 7th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on Ardelyx in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.39.

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.