Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on IRWD. Zacks Research downgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.23.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IRWD opened at $4.29 on Friday. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $1.01 and a 1 year high of $5.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $4.08 and a 200-day moving average of $3.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $708.88 million, a P/E ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.20.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $113.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.84 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.38% and a net margin of 33.36%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Julie Mchugh sold 21,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.73, for a total transaction of $80,459.83. Following the sale, the director directly owned 250,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $935,293.77. This represents a 7.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ronald Silver sold 127,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.52, for a total transaction of $578,062.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 313,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,417,833.60. This represents a 28.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,695,544 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,321,000 after buying an additional 8,337,672 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 186.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,359,682 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $9,349,000 after purchasing an additional 4,140,439 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 144.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,165,637 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 3,641,762 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,975,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,769,000 after purchasing an additional 58,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,424,002 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,909,000 after buying an additional 1,279,863 shares during the period.

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a commercial‐stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. The company’s flagship product is linaclotide, marketed under the brand name LINZESS in the United States for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). Through a strategic collaboration with Allergan (now part of AbbVie), Ironwood also commercializes linaclotide in select ex-U.S.