Vestal Point Capital LP Acquires New Stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 500,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,445,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARDX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardelyx by 2.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,391,855 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,761,000 after buying an additional 365,809 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 68.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,913,863 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584,597 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 142.8% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,203,090 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,995 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Ardelyx by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,060,191 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $21,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243,606 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,938,778 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,358,000 after purchasing an additional 40,702 shares in the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ardelyx

In other Ardelyx news, CEO Michael Raab sold 35,000 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.61, for a total value of $196,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,220,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,847,610.88. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 5,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $33,253.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 153,616 shares in the company, valued at $961,636.16. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,068 shares of company stock valued at $1,472,641 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright downgraded Ardelyx from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $5.50 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of Ardelyx in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.42.

Ardelyx Stock Up 6.4 %

ARDX opened at $5.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.79 and a 200 day moving average of $6.08. Ardelyx, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.06 and a fifty-two week high of $10.13.

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.