Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.25.

IONS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock traded up $3.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.59. The stock had a trading volume of 4,232,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,716,766. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $52.34. The company has a current ratio of 9.66, a quick ratio of 9.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $34.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.00. The company has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.58 and a beta of 0.23.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by $0.14. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 63.65% and a negative return on equity of 91.85%. The company had revenue of $132.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $144.31 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.98) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $31.86 per share, for a total transaction of $477,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 50,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,599,977.34. This represents a 42.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company's stock worth $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock worth $488,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company's stock worth $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Orbimed Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company's stock valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,976,000 after purchasing an additional 18,890 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.