Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives $60.28 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.28.

Several research analysts have commented on IONS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,803 shares of company stock worth $134,402. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% in the third 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 period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $37,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $39.19 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $35.95 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.68 and a beta of 0.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The company had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.