Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Upgraded by Citigroup to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Citigroup upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

IONS has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $73.84 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $32.00 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.67 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $74.17 and a 200-day moving average of $77.58.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 54,878 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.35, for a total value of $4,354,569.30. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,402.85. This represents a 93.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 37,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.85, for a total transaction of $2,827,460.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $888,506.90. This represents a 76.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 616,371 shares of company stock worth $46,406,452. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.