Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD)

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $0.70 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $8.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.04% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th. Citizens Jmp lowered Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities cut their price target 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. Craig Hallum dropped their target price on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from $3.00 to $1.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.62.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IRWD opened at $0.65 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.10. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $0.59 and a 52-week high of $8.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.60 and a beta of 0.30.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.08). Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 0.96% and a negative net margin of 0.65%. The company had revenue of $90.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.85 million. On average, analysts predict that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Mccourt sold 139,064 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total transaction of $244,752.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,160,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,042,715.84. This represents a 10.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 transaction of $72,633.44. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 554,007 shares in the company, valued at $975,052.32. The trade was a 6.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 192,381 shares of company stock worth $338,591 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $45,000. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $50,000.

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.