Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on IONS. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $40.36 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.08. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of -15.12 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The business had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The company’s revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 2,803 shares of company stock worth $134,402 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.