Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on IONS. Bank of America increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.71.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $39.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.06 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.65 and a 200 day moving average of $42.92. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.95) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.21. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.58% and a negative return on equity of 113.42%. The business had revenue of $134.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.99 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $1,019,000. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% during the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 34,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.0% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 77,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.