Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JMP Securities dropped their target price on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Craig Hallum dropped 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.60.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IRWD stock opened at $1.53 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $2.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.52. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $1.34 and a fifty-two week high of $9.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $244.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.00 and a beta of 0.37.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $90.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, equities analysts expect that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 value of $72,633.44. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 554,007 shares in the company, valued at $975,052.32. This trade represents a 6.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 $2,042,715.84. This represents a 10.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 59.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,593 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3,198 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $50,000.

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.