Short Interest in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) Increases By 7.7%

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,080,000 shares, an increase of 7.7% from the November 30th total of 11,220,000 shares. Currently, 7.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $4.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $708.92 million, a P/E ratio of -147.67 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.81. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $3.06 and a 12-month high of $15.70.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.07). Ironwood Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 0.65% and a negative return on equity of 0.96%. The firm had revenue of $91.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on IRWD. Leerink Partners started coverage on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sravan Kumar Emany sold 11,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.08, for a total transaction of $44,884.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 309,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,263,053.76. This represents a 3.43 % 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. 12.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IRWD. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 10.6% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 41,831 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 4,016 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 365,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,041,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,787,000 after purchasing an additional 177,500 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 74.3% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 222,573 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 94,882 shares during the period.

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.