Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,250,000 shares, a decline of 30.8% from the March 15th total of 16,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 7.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $244,752.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,160,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,042,715.84. This represents a 10.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Michael Shetzline sold 41,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $72,633.44. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 554,007 shares in the company, valued at $975,052.32. This trade represents a 6.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 192,381 shares of company stock valued at $338,591. 12.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRWD. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,730,771 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $51,967,000 after acquiring an additional 450,949 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,919,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,870,000 after purchasing an additional 677,024 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 102.7% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 323,638 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 164,006 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,983,240 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,786,000 after purchasing an additional 78,969 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.3 %

IRWD stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $0.73. The company had a trading volume of 3,326,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,563,472. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.31 million, a P/E ratio of -24.17 and a beta of 0.30. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $0.59 and a 52-week high of $8.45.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $90.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.85 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 0.65% and a negative return on equity of 0.96%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Craig Hallum cut Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $1.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $1.00 price objective (down from $7.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.78.

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.