Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to “strong-buy”, adding to a wave of bullish analyst commentary. Other firms, including Barclays, Oppenheimer, HC Wainwright and Morgan Stanley, also raised targets or reiterated positive ratings, while the consensus remains “Moderate Buy.”
• The stock rose 1.8% to $73.84 and currently trades near its 50-day average, with a market cap of about $12.2 billion. Its 52-week range is $32.00 to $86.74, and it has a beta of 0.38.
• Ionis beat quarterly expectations, reporting a smaller-than-expected loss of $0.56 per share and revenue of $246 million, up 86.4% year over year. The company also saw notable insider selling in recent months, though institutional ownership remains high at 93.86%.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $73.84 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.67 and a beta of 0.38. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $32.00 and a one year high of $86.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.93) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 5,812 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.97, for a total value of $412,477.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 63,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,273.30. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,782,506.21. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 616,371 shares of company stock valued at $46,406,452 in the last 90 days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company's stock worth $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company's stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company's stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company's stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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