Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.67.

Several research firms have recently commented on IONS. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $42.24 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.13 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 9.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $38.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.82.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.93) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by $0.14. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 63.65% and a negative return on equity of 91.85%. The firm had revenue of $132.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.98) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $31.86 per share, for a total transaction of $477,900.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 50,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,599,977.34. This trade represents a 42.59% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 1,160 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.74, for a total value of $48,418.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 179,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,505,686.80. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $57,727,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.