On March 3, 2023 at 15:34:12 ET an unusually large $25.12K block of Put contracts in Ardelyx (ARDX) was sold, with a strike price of $3.50 / share, expiring in 49 days (on April 21, 2023). Fintel tracks all large options trades, and the premium spent on this trade was 20.92 sigmas above the mean, placing it in the 100.00 percentile of all recent large trades made in ARDX options.

This trade was first picked up on Fintel’s real time Options Flow tool, where all large block option trades are tracked.

Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 94.71% Upside

As of March 3, 2023, the average one-year price target for Ardelyx is $5.63. The forecasts range from a low of $1.62 to a high of $8.40. The average price target represents an increase of 94.71% from its latest reported closing price of $2.89.

The projected annual revenue for Ardelyx is $67MM, an increase of 28.13%. The projected annual non-GAAP EPS is -$0.44.

What is the Fund Sentiment?

There are 147 funds or institutions reporting positions in Ardelyx. This is an increase of 3 owner(s) or 2.08% in the last quarter. Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to ARDX is 0.10%, an increase of 101.38%. Total shares owned by institutions increased in the last three months by 18.87% to 83,539K shares. The put/call ratio of ARDX is 0.29, indicating a bullish outlook.

What are large shareholders doing?

Janus Henderson Group holds 19,774K shares representing 9.96% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 8,253K shares, representing an increase of 58.26%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in ARDX by 442.32% over the last quarter.

Millennium Management holds 10,383K shares representing 5.23% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 948K shares, representing an increase of 90.87%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in ARDX by 2,354.40% over the last quarter.

VTSMX – Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares holds 5,266K shares representing 2.65% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 3,888K shares, representing an increase of 26.16%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in ARDX by 199.54% over the last quarter.

Woodline Partners holds 3,476K shares representing 1.75% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 5,339K shares, representing a decrease of 53.60%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in ARDX by 49.30% over the last quarter.

Orchard Capital Managment holds 2,897K shares representing 1.46% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 1,421K shares, representing an increase of 50.93%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in ARDX by 337.42% over the last quarter.

Ardelyx Background Information
(This description is provided by the company.)

Ardelyx is focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative first-in-class medicines to enhance the lives of patients with kidney and cardiorenal diseases. Ardelyx is advancing tenapanor, a novel product candidate to control serum phosphorus in adult patients with CKD on dialysis, for which the company’s NDA is currently under review by the FDA, with a PDUFA date of April 29, 2021. Ardelyx is also advancing RDX013, a potassium secretagogue, for the potential treatment of elevated serum potassium, or hyperkalemia, a problem among certain patients with kidney and/or heart disease and has an early-stage program in metabolic acidosis, a serious electrolyte disorder in patients with CKD. In addition, Ardelyx received FDA approval of IBSRELA® (tenapanor) on September 12, 2019. Ardelyx has established agreements with Kyowa Kirin in Japan, Fosun Pharma in China and Knight Therapeutics in Canada for the development and commercialization of tenapanor in their respective territories.

This article originally appeared on Fintel