Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 88.62% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $31.81 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $30.23 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.04 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.50.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.58% and a negative return on equity of 88.98%. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $36.22 per share, with a total value of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,632.18. The trade was a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after buying an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 128,619 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 222.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 16,508 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after acquiring an additional 114,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 650,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,070,000 after purchasing an additional 77,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.