Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives "Buy" Rating from HC Wainwright

Key Points

• HC Wainwright has restated a "buy" rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, raising the price target from $50.00 to $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 48.81%.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported a challenging quarterly performance with a negative net margin of 63.65% but substantial revenue growth of 100.9% year-over-year, reaching $452 million.
• The stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $57.31, following similar upgrades from several analysts including Barclays and Morgan Stanley.

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $65.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $50.00.

IONS has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Barclays raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC decreased 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.79.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $43.03. The company had a trading volume of 2,315,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,751,200. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $50.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 9.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $39.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.12. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.39 and a beta of 0.25.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The firm had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.45) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $109,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 179,820 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,091,900. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $763,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $59,948,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,301 shares of the company's stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,146 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 18,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% in 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 during the last quarter. 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.