Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Research Coverage Started at Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of IONS opened at $28.71 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $27.00 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.44 and a beta of 0.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.47. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.31, for a total transaction of $44,167.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,551,429.27. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total transaction of $194,937.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,816,632.24. The trade was a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after buying an additional 3,637,041 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.