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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.67.

IONS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,393 shares of company stock valued at $440,127. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HealthInvest Partners AB bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,226,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,242,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,351,000 after acquiring an additional 43,087 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 183,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,317,000 after acquiring an additional 78,724 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $9,329,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,728,000 after purchasing an additional 397,897 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $40.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a current ratio of 5.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.92. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -15.99 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $0.72. The business had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.37) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.