Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 336,014 Shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) by 71.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 135,439 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 336,014 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ardelyx were worth $933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Redmile Group LLC acquired a new position in Ardelyx during the 1st quarter worth about $16,020,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ardelyx by 142.8% in the second 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ardelyx by 68.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,913,863 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584,597 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ardelyx by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,391,855 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $97,761,000 after purchasing an additional 365,809 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in Ardelyx by 375.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 460,689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 363,894 shares during the last quarter. 58.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Ardelyx in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup cut their price target 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. HC Wainwright lowered Ardelyx from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $5.50 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ardelyx from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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, Ardelyx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.42.

Insider Activity at Ardelyx

In related news, CEO Michael Raab sold 7,500 shares of Ardelyx stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total value of $46,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,219,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,585,345.98. This trade represents a 0.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David P. Rosenbaum sold 49,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.92, for a total transaction of $342,982.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 301,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,089,466.32. This trade represents a 14.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 234,568 shares of company stock valued at $1,384,791 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Ardelyx Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARDX opened at $5.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.70 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.16. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $4.06 and a 1-year high of $10.13.

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.