Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $4.47, but opened at $4.68. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $4.7780, with a volume of 636,097 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IRWD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.23.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $3.85 and a 200-day moving average of $3.93. The company has a market cap of $757.24 million, a P/E ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.20.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $106.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.11 million. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 28.26% and a negative return on equity of 39.65%. Research analysts anticipate that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

In other Ironwood Pharmaceuticals news, Director Julie Mchugh sold 21,571 shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.73, for a total transaction of $80,459.83. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 250,749 shares in the company, valued at $935,293.77. The trade was a 7.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IRWD. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $3,982,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $976,000. Bull Harbor Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $48,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 48.7% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,336 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 6,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 129,703 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 10,810 shares in the last quarter.

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.