Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 target price on the stock.

IONS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the company from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $60.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $40.85 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $35.95 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $784,000. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 149.2% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 75,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after purchasing an additional 45,108 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 12.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 274,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,099,000 after purchasing an additional 29,783 shares during the period. Great Point Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $15,728,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,021.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 173,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,255,000 after buying an additional 157,756 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.