StockNews.com Downgrades Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) to Buy

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on IRWD. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum lowered their target price on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Leerink Partnrs raised Ironwood Pharmaceuticals to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Capital One Financial lowered Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $4.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.40.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IRWD opened at $4.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.52. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $3.79 and a 1 year high of $15.70.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.07). Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 0.65% and a negative return on equity of 0.96%. The firm had revenue of $91.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 120,245 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 55.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 70,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 72,030 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 2,491 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 365,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after buying an additional 2,577 shares in the last quarter.

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.