Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $60.00 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $35.63 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.27. The firm has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.60 and a beta of 0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $33.33 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total value of $252,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 167,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,369,303.65. The trade was a 3.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,278,396.96. This represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,877 shares of company stock valued at $299,578 over the last ninety days. 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 added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.