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

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.72.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on IONS. HC Wainwright assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded up $0.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.97. 79,040 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,516,367. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.86 and a beta of 0.29.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $140.97 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.12 EPS. The business's revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 13,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.45, for a total value of $429,702.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 219,526 shares in the company, valued at $7,123,618.70. This represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 1,523 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.44, for a total transaction of $49,406.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 110,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,584,620. This represents a 1.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,167 shares of company stock worth $2,010,458 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth 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 increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company's stock worth $98,494,000 after acquiring an additional 492,900 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company's stock worth $93,976,000 after acquiring an additional 18,890 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $59,948,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

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.