Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Craig Hallum decreased their target price on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $1.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $0.70 target price (down previously from $8.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $1.00 target price (down from $7.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities dropped their price target on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.78.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:IRWD opened at $0.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $117.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.17 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.04. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $0.59 and a 52 week high of $8.45.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $90.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.85 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals 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 directly owns 554,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $975,052.32. The trade was a 6.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value 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. The trade was a 10.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRWD. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,730,771 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $51,967,000 after purchasing an additional 450,949 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,919,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,870,000 after buying an additional 677,024 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 169,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 34,089 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 102.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 323,638 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 164,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,983,240 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,786,000 after acquiring an additional 78,969 shares in the last quarter.

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.