Brokerages Set Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) PT at $4.93

Shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $4.9250.

IRWD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Craig Hallum raised Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research cut Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup upgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alexander J. Denner sold 6,730,800 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.05, for a total transaction of $20,528,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,188,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,025,336.75. The trade was a 42.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 12.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 17.9% in the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 16,150,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,695,544 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,321,000 after acquiring an additional 8,337,672 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 186.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,359,682 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,349,000 after acquiring an additional 4,140,439 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 144.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,165,637 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 3,641,762 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,975,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,769,000 after acquiring an additional 58,603 shares during the last quarter.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IRWD stock opened at $3.06 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.15. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $0.53 and a fifty-two week high of $5.78. The firm has a market cap of $498.96 million, a PE ratio of 23.54 and a beta of 0.24.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.03). Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 8.11% and a negative return on equity of 13.72%. The business had revenue of $47.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.10 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

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.