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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.67.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,393 shares of company stock valued at $440,127 over the last quarter. 2.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $40.93 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.92. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $34.79 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -15.99 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. The company had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.37) EPS. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 EPS for the current year.

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.