Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.44.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IONS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of IONS opened at $31.15 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.80.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total value of $1,229,380.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. 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.