Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $6.2333.

IRWD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 22nd. Zacks Research lowered Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IRWD stock opened at $4.13 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $682.44 million, a PE ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.89. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $1.01 and a 52 week high of $5.78.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.01). The company 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRWD. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,406 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.