Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Ionis Pharmaceuticals saw a significant increase in trading volume after BMO Capital Markets upgraded its rating from "market perform" to "outperform," with a price target set at $70.00.
• The company reported a 100.9% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reaching $452 million, and exceeded earnings estimates with $0.70 EPS.
• A number of institutional investors have increased their stakes in Ionis, with T. Rowe Price boosting holdings by 14.2% and Adage Capital increasing their stake by 253.3%.

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. BMO Capital Markets now has a $70.00 price target on the stock. Approximately 1,757,603 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 5% from the previous session's volume of 1,844,968 shares.The stock last traded at $61.30 and had previously closed at $57.49.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on IONS. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $83.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 1,427 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.53, for a total value of $60,690.31. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,368 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $781,191.04. The trade was a 7.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total value of $209,650.00. Following the sale, the director owned 86,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,568 shares of company stock worth $1,705,296 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock worth $488,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,334 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,724,400 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,891,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,245,000 after purchasing an additional 48,141 shares during the period. Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares during the period. Finally, BVF Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $57,727,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The stock has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a PE ratio of -32.59 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.77.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.45) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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