Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives $59.56 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.44.

IONS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report 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 reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $31.49 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $30.23 and a 12 month high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) 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 firm 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 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,816,632.24. The trade was a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,767,331.48. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the 4th 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 period. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after acquiring an additional 492,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.