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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.08.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $43.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a current ratio of 5.90. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $34.32 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The firm has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.83 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.06.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $325.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 90.29% and a negative net margin of 46.32%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.37) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 194,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,828,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $773,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.5% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 898,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,772,000 after purchasing an additional 113,644 shares during the period. Finally, Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $39,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.