Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $8.60.

A number of research firms have issued reports on IRWD. Craig Hallum decreased their price target on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities cut their price objective on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total transaction of $244,752.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,160,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,042,715.84. This trade represents a 10.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 554,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,052.32. The trade was a 6.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,730,771 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $51,967,000 after purchasing an additional 450,949 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,919,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,870,000 after purchasing an additional 677,024 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 364,841 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 25.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 169,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 34,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $893,000.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IRWD opened at $1.49 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.44 million, a PE ratio of -49.67 and a beta of 0.37. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $1.34 and a 1 year high of $9.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.60.

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

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

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.