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

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on IRWD. Zacks Research cut shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.23.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IRWD opened at $4.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $703.92 million, a P/E ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.20. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $1.05 and a 1 year high of $5.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.89.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.01). Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.38% and a net margin of 33.36%.The company had revenue of $113.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.84 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Julie McHugh sold 21,571 shares of the business’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 directly owned 250,749 shares in the company, valued at $935,293.77. The trade was a 7.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ronald Silver sold 127,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.52, for a total transaction of $578,062.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 313,680 shares in the company, valued at $1,417,833.60. This represents a 28.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 9.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 19,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 3,406 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $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.