Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Rating Increased to Hold at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.0%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $60.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a PE ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.77 and a 200 day moving average of $72.41. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $41.71 and a one year high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The business had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.60 per share, with a total value of $258,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 24,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,238,400. This represents a 26.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total value of $30,516.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,692.80. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,420,918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,238,571 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,158,000 after acquiring an additional 82,560 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,370,000 after acquiring an additional 258,155 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,043 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,975,000 after purchasing an additional 21,890 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.