While institutions invested in Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) benefited from last week's 11% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most

If you want to know who really controls Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 57% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Following a 11% increase in the stock price last week, individual investors profited the most, but institutions who own 27% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Ardelyx, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Ardelyx

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ardelyx?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Ardelyx does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Ardelyx's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

It would appear that 5.3% of Ardelyx shares are controlled by hedge funds. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Deep Track Capital, LP with 7.9% of shares outstanding. With 5.3% and 4.4% of the shares outstanding respectively, Millennium Management LLC and Janus Henderson Group plc are the second and third largest shareholders.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Ardelyx

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Ardelyx, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$527m, and insiders have US$13m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 57% stake in Ardelyx, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 7.9% stake in Ardelyx. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Ardelyx better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Ardelyx (of which 2 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.