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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 68.59% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $35.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.91. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $33.33 and a one year high of $54.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of -14.59 and a beta of 0.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total value of $45,276.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,278,396.96. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total value of $252,271.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,369,303.65. This represents a 3.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,877 shares of company stock worth $299,578 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $202,000. BLB&B Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 153,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,328,000 after purchasing an additional 7,650 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 132,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,292,000 after purchasing an additional 13,426 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 27.6% in the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 22,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after buying an additional 695 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.