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

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.72.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IONS. HC Wainwright began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 13,242 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.45, for a total value of $429,702.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 219,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,123,618.70. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,167 shares of company stock worth $2,010,458 in the last 90 days. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,722.5% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,066 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,786.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 28,247 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 133,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,681,000 after buying an additional 7,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $116,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $28.40 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.31. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.34 and a beta of 0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

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.