Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Trading 9% Higher – Should You Buy?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) shares were up 9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $3.34 and last traded at $3.3150. Approximately 590,621 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 4,985,588 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on IRWD. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.93.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 7.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $495.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.17 and a 200-day moving average of $3.11.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In other Ironwood Pharmaceuticals news, Director Alexander J. Denner sold 6,730,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.05, for a total value of $20,528,940.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,188,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,025,336.75. This trade represents a 42.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 12.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 16,150,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450,000 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,695,544 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,321,000 after buying an additional 8,337,672 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 186.6% during the first 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 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 144.3% during the second 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 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,975,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $16,769,000 after acquiring an additional 58,603 shares during the last quarter.

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.