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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.1905.

Several equities analysts have commented on IONS shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Brian Birchler sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.17, for a total value of $609,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,719,076.42. This represents a 14.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 33,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.72, for a total value of $2,501,637.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,517,228.04. This trade represents a 35.64% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 504,866 shares of company stock worth $35,744,766. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at $3,523,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 148,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,486,000 after purchasing an additional 43,071 shares during the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,750,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.1% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 12,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 1,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 104.6% during the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 81,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after buying an additional 41,584 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $80.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The company has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a PE ratio of -47.53 and a beta of 0.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.55. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $83.61.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 44.26%. The business had revenue of $156.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.