Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.23.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 6.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRWD opened at $4.05 on Friday. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $0.81 and a 12-month high of $5.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.96. The firm has a market cap of $660.38 million, a PE ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.20.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $113.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.84 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 33.36% and a negative return on equity of 58.38%. On average, research analysts expect that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ironwood Pharmaceuticals news, Director Julie Mchugh sold 21,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.73, for a total transaction of $80,459.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 250,749 shares in the company, valued at $935,293.77. The trade was a 7.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ronald Silver sold 127,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.52, for a total transaction of $578,062.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 313,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,417,833.60. This represents a 28.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 19,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 3,406 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000.

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a commercial‐stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. The company’s flagship product is linaclotide, marketed under the brand name LINZESS in the United States for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). Through a strategic collaboration with Allergan (now part of AbbVie), Ironwood also commercializes linaclotide in select ex-U.S.