Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Upgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $33.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.97 and a beta of 0.28. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $32.66 and its 200 day moving average is $36.47.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $36.22 per share, with a total value of $181,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. This represents a 16.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 in the last ninety days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after buying an additional 3,637,041 shares in the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after buying an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,976,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. 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.