Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.56.

IONS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS stock opened at $40.85 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44. The company has a current ratio of 7.61, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.73. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371 over the last ninety days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently 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.