Guggenheim Reiterates Buy Rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Guggenheim in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on IONS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target 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, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.5 %

IONS traded down $0.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $28.00. 106,361 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,459,088. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $27.00 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.20 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total transaction of $1,229,380.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at $5,718,616.95. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 over the last quarter. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. 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.