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

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.44.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.8 %

IONS opened at $31.15 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $30.23 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.70.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The company had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. The trade was a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total transaction of $1,229,380.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last 90 days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 373 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.