KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases 174,200 Shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) by 719.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 198,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 174,200 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned 0.12% of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals worth $292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of IRWD. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,066,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,163,000 after acquiring an additional 469,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,306,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,652,000 after purchasing an additional 13,028 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,625,110 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,199,000 after purchasing an additional 118,962 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,567,535 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,944,000 after purchasing an additional 504,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 61.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 678,145 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,004,000 after purchasing an additional 258,372 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on IRWD shares. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $1.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $1.00 target price (down previously from $7.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Craig Hallum cut Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $0.70 price target (down from $8.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.78.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $0.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.63 million, a P/E ratio of -3.82 and a beta of 0.30. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $0.53 and a 52 week high of $7.08.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $41.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.02 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 9.89%. Research analysts forecast that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.