Brokerages Set Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target at $59.56

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.44.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IONS. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective 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.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of IONS opened at $31.49 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 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 trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.