Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 68.40% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $35.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.60 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.25. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $33.33 and a 52 week high of $54.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total transaction of $252,271.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,369,303.65. The trade was a 3.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,278,396.96. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,877 shares of company stock worth $299,578. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after acquiring an additional 183,814 shares in the last quarter. Great Point Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $15,728,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after purchasing an additional 114,914 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $2,429,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 650,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,070,000 after purchasing an additional 77,909 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.