Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives $56.08 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.67.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on IONS shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after buying an additional 2,856,353 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,288,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $48,399,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,728,000 after acquiring an additional 397,897 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $18,068,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.6 %

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $41.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.99. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $34.32 and a twelve month high of $54.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.39 and a beta of 0.41. 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 (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. The firm 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%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.37) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 earnings per share 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.