Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Leerink Partnrs

Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ Q2 2024 earnings at ($0.81) EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at ($0.83) EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.71) EPS, FY2024 earnings at ($3.33) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($2.29) EPS, FY2026 earnings at $1.54 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $0.95 EPS.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. SVB Leerink upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $60.18.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $51.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of -19.27 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 7.37, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 49.49% and a negative return on equity of 107.64%. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.87) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 33,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.