StockNews.com Upgrades Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) to “Buy”

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on IRWD. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Craig Hallum cut their target price on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.40.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IRWD stock opened at $5.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $892.22 million, a P/E ratio of -0.84 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.93. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $5.55 and a fifty-two week high of $15.70.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.20). Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 254.41% and a negative return on equity of 28.45%. The firm had revenue of $74.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $105.75 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Julie Mchugh sold 22,766 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.29, for a total transaction of $143,198.14. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 139,528 shares in the company, valued at $877,631.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Julie Mchugh sold 22,766 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.29, for a total transaction of $143,198.14. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 139,528 shares in the company, valued at $877,631.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Catherine Moukheibir sold 44,426 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.36, for a total value of $282,549.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 84,207 shares in the company, valued at $535,556.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $113,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 29.7% in the first quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 366,691 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,194,000 after buying an additional 84,072 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 40.8% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,235,580 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $36,892,000 after buying an additional 1,226,377 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% in the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 116,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 10,645 shares during the period. Finally, Kynam Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $14,154,000.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a healthcare company, focuses on the development and commercialization of gastrointestinal (GI) products. It markets linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase type-C (GC-C) agonist for the treatment of adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation under the LINZESS name in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China, as well as under the CONSTELLA name in the Canada and European countries.