Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) PT Raised to $53.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $50.00 to $53.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target points to a potential upside of 11.20% from the company’s previous close.

IONS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.64.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.9 %

IONS opened at $47.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.85 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a current ratio of 7.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.88. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $35.95 and a twelve month high of $54.44.

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

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $256,260.00. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,856,353 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,288,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,399,000. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $18,068,000. Finally, First Turn Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $18,044,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.