B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARDX. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 1,026.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 3,233 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx in the 2nd quarter valued at about $62,000. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ardelyx during the second quarter worth about $74,000. Helen Stephens Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardelyx during the third quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 328.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,814 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 9,821 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ardelyx from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. HC Wainwright lowered Ardelyx from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $5.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued 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 target price of $10.42.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 49,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.92, for a total value of $342,982.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 301,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,089,466.32. This represents a 14.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura A. Williams sold 7,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.79, for a total transaction of $35,283.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,888.55. The trade was a 2.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 236,756 shares of company stock valued at $1,374,538 over the last quarter. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of ARDX opened at $4.61 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.37 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.86. Ardelyx, Inc. has a twelve month low of $4.32 and a twelve month high of $10.13. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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.