Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $3.65, but opened at $3.96. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $4.1150, with a volume of 1,385,899 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on IRWD shares. Citizens Jmp boosted their target price on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.23.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $659.57 million, a PE ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 0.17. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $3.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.33.

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

Insider Transactions at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Alexander J. Denner sold 6,730,800 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director owned 9,188,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,025,336.75. This represents a 42.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 12.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRWD. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 19,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,406 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $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.