Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Ironwood Pharmaceuticals was upgraded to a "strong-buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting analysts' increasing confidence in the stock.
• Despite this upgrade, other analysts have cut their price targets significantly, with estimates ranging from $0.70 to $1.00, indicating divided opinions about the stock's future performance.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a $0.14 EPS, beating expectations, and revenues of $85.24 million, suggesting strong quarterly performance despite a negative net margin.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $1.00 price target (down from $7.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $0.70 price target (down from $8.00) on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $1.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Craig Hallum cut Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $4.94.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRWD traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $1.11. The stock had a trading volume of 778,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,897,885. The company has a 50 day moving average of $0.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.13. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $0.53 and a twelve month high of $5.21. The firm has a market cap of $178.81 million, a PE ratio of -22.10 and a beta of 0.33.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.16. The company had revenue of $85.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.02 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.45% and a negative net margin of 2.25%. Equities research analysts predict that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 526,775 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 108,822 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,499,332 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,510,000 after buying an additional 81,243 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 147.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,549,687 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $4,685,000 after buying an additional 3,904,498 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,206,948 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,583,000 after buying an additional 718,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,211,155 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $869,000 after buying an additional 523,368 shares in the last quarter.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.