Ionis Pharmaceuticals' (IONS) "Buy" Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

Key Points

• HC Wainwright reiterated its “Buy” rating on Ionis Pharmaceuticals and maintained a $115 price target, implying approximately 88% upside from the stock’s prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with 17 Buy, four Hold and one Sell rating; the consensus is “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $94.15.
• Ionis exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue expectations, reporting a $0.69 loss per share versus the anticipated $1.08 loss and $267.95 million in revenue versus $189.10 million expected, though revenue declined 40.7% year over year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $115.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright's target price points to a potential upside of 88.37% from the stock's previous close.

IONS has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $61.05 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.73, a current ratio of 7.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $42.13 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a PE ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.41. The stock's 50 day moving average is $63.05 and its 200 day moving average is $71.29.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. The business had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total transaction of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,648,641.78. This trade represents a 73.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. The trade was a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 225,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,711,191. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.6% during the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the company's stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $1,062,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8,029.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,347,446 shares of the company's stock worth $1,137,609,000 after buying an additional 14,170,961 shares in the last quarter. AlphaGrep UK Ltd bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $234,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 171.0% in the 2nd quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 10,423 shares of the company's stock worth $826,000 after buying an additional 6,577 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company's proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis' pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.

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