Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Lowered 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.

IRWD has been the topic of several other reports. JMP Securities decreased their price target on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Craig Hallum lowered their price objective on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.60.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 7.8 %

IRWD stock opened at $1.41 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.50. The company has a market cap of $225.64 million, a PE ratio of -47.00 and a beta of 0.37. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $1.34 and a 52 week high of $9.10.

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 firm had revenue of $90.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.85 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the 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. This represents a 10.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $72,633.44. Following the completion of 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. 12.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of 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 position 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 worth $51,967,000 after buying an additional 450,949 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $40,870,000 after buying an additional 677,024 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,066,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,163,000 after acquiring an additional 469,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,306,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,652,000 after acquiring an additional 13,028 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,983,240 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,786,000 after acquiring an additional 78,969 shares during the period.

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.