Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $70.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on IONS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $31.43 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $31.40 and a 1-year high of $52.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.17. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of -12.88 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,278,396.96. This represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,293 shares of company stock valued at $1,914,820. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 249,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,892,000 after purchasing an additional 69,800 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $252,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.