Short Interest in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) Increases By 34.9%

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,250,000 shares, a growth of 34.9% from the February 28th total of 12,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days. Approximately 10.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 554,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,052.32. The trade was a 6.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591 in the last ninety days. 12.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IRWD. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in 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 period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,567,535 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,944,000 after buying an additional 504,336 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 5.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 450,949 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $1,888,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IRWD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Craig Hallum cut 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 Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, JMP Securities decreased 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.60.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.1 %

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,380,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,422,865. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.36. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $1.32 and a 1-year high of $8.56. The stock has a market cap of $225.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.00 and a beta of 0.37.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.85 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.