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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 23.61% from the stock’s current price.

IONS has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 5th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.23.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $48.54 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $32.69 and a 52 week high of $50.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 6.33 and a current ratio of 6.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.85. The firm has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.91 and a beta of 0.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 10,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.13, for a total transaction of $451,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 82,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,727,196.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.13, for a total value of $451,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 82,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,727,196.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 3,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $173,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 118,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,433,106. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,282 shares of company stock valued at $834,603 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 88.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 78,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,202,000 after acquiring an additional 36,636 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 63,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $438,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 37,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,436,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $766,135,000 after buying an additional 128,815 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.