Wolfe Research Reaffirms Peer Perform Rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “peer perform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Wolfe Research in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.05.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.5%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $54.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $40.03 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $73.72 and its 200 day moving average is $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $8.99 billion, a PE ratio of -26.28 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,411,038.28. The trade was a 16.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 79.1% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 383,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,385,000 after buying an additional 169,300 shares during the last quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $270,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 40,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,245,000 after buying an additional 7,254 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $112,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.