Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

IRWD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Craig Hallum cut their price target on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities dropped 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.60.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRWD opened at $1.61 on Friday. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $1.55 and a 12-month high of $11.00. The company has a market capitalization of $257.65 million, a PE ratio of -53.67 and a beta of 0.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $3.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.84.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $90.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.85 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 0.65% and a negative return on equity of 0.96%. On average, analysts forecast that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ironwood Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,160,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,042,715.84. This trade represents a 10.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 554,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,052.32. This represents a 6.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,730,771 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $51,967,000 after buying an additional 450,949 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the 3rd 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% during the 3rd 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 period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 34,089 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $893,000.

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.