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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, thirteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.56.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $32.91 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The stock has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.83 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.18.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,767,331.48. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after buying an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,494,000 after buying an additional 492,900 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.