Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) Buy Rating Reiterated at TD Cowen

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at TD Cowen in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $108.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 46.96% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of IONS stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $73.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 328,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,073. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09. The company has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.47 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.76. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $34.78 and a 1-year high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.93) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 51,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,916,006.88. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 6,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total transaction of $458,591.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,210,569.40. This represents a 27.47% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,052 shares of company stock worth $3,043,969. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,992,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.