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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 109.21% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on IONS. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, March 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.72.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $28.68 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of -9.43 and a beta of 0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34.

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, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The company’s revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $107,000. 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.