Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,960,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the October 15th total of 11,930,000 shares. Approximately 7.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,660,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC boosted its position 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 worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 70,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted 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 worth $470,000 after buying an additional 2,491 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 365,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after buying an additional 2,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 38,883 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917 shares during the period.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.5 %

IRWD stock traded down $0.19 on Monday, hitting $4.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,263,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,907,575. The stock has a market cap of $642.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -134.00 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.45. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $3.79 and a 12-month high of $15.70.

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

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.