Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Given New $65.00 Price Target at Guggenheim

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Guggenheim from $70.00 to $65.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Guggenheim’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 69.40% from the company’s current price.

IONS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:IONS traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $38.37. The company had a trading volume of 372,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,327,619. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. The firm has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.37 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.54. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $35.95 and a twelve month high of $54.44.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. 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.