Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

IRWD has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities cut their price target on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Craig Hallum cut their target price on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.60.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.4 %

IRWD stock opened at $1.41 on Friday. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $1.34 and a 1-year high of $8.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $2.04 and its 200-day moving average is $3.38. The firm has a market cap of $225.64 million, a P/E ratio of -47.00 and a beta of 0.37.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $90.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.85 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 0.96% and a negative net margin of 0.65%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ironwood Pharmaceuticals news, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total transaction of $72,633.44. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 554,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,052.32. This represents a 6.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $244,752.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,160,634 shares in the company, valued at $2,042,715.84. The trade was a 10.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591 in the last 90 days. 12.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 150.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 126,289 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 75,917 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $181,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,904,271 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,846,000 after acquiring an additional 364,841 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 67,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 11,800 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 169,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $699,000 after acquiring an additional 34,089 shares during the last quarter.

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.