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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ironwood Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Sravan Kumar Emany sold 11,001 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.08, for a total transaction of $44,884.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 309,572 shares in the company, valued at $1,263,053.76. This represents a 3.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 12.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRWD. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals by 59.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,593 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3,198 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. purchased a new stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, First Dallas Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ironwood Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $73,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ IRWD opened at $4.43 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $4.01 and a 200-day moving average of $4.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $708.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -147.67 and a beta of 0.41. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $3.06 and a 12 month high of $15.70.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $91.60 million during 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%. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will post 0.08 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.