Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Raised to Market Perform at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has $44.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $58.43.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $40.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.22 and a beta of 0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a current ratio of 7.37 and a quick ratio of 7.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.12 and its 200-day moving average is $45.24.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.42 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 107.64% and a negative net margin of 49.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.87) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total transaction of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 33,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,675,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 62,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,836,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. 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.