Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Craig Hallum decreased 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. JMP Securities reduced their price target 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.60.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:IRWD opened at $1.61 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.84. The company has a market cap of $257.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -53.67 and a beta of 0.29. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $1.55 and a 52 week high of $11.00.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $90.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.85 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 0.96% and a negative net margin of 0.65%. On average, analysts expect that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 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 transaction 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 $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591. Insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 42,151 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 4,749 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 64.5% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 30,723 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 12,047 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 50.1% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 168,071 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 56,097 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 1,293.6% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 380,960 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 353,624 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 194.9% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 351,193 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,447,000 after buying an additional 232,087 shares during the period.

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.