Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Barclays

Barclays started coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on IONS. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.45.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $82.67 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $86.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $80.25 and its 200-day moving average is $66.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.92 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $156.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.75 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 44.26%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 44,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.82, for a total transaction of $3,294,623.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 224,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,810,782.06. This trade represents a 16.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 9,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.84, for a total value of $697,045.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 66,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,408.64. The trade was a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 277,891 shares of company stock worth $21,730,823 over the last 90 days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.