Redburn Atlantic Initiates Coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Analysts at Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Redburn Atlantic’s target price points to a potential upside of 43.07% from the stock’s current price.

IONS has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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 note on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $27.26 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.52. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $27.20 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.97 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total value of $291,024.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares in the company, valued at $3,539,706.85. The trade was a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position 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 worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.