Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.68.

IONS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371. Insiders own 2.71% 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 stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $784,000. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 149.2% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 75,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after buying an additional 45,108 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 12.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 274,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,099,000 after buying an additional 29,783 shares during the period. Great Point Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $15,728,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,021.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 173,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,255,000 after buying an additional 157,756 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $48.33 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.04. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $35.95 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The company has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.10 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The business had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.69 EPS for the current 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.