Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $60.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on IONS. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $32.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 8.91 and a quick ratio of 8.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.46. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.40 and a beta of 0.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.58% and a negative return on equity of 88.98%. The company’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,632.18. This represents a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock valued at $3,564,867 over the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.