Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $70.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $32.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.40 and a beta of 0.34. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $30.23 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.91.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 88.98% and a negative net margin of 44.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total transaction of $194,937.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after buying an additional 128,619 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 222.5% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 16,508 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after buying an additional 114,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 650,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,070,000 after acquiring an additional 77,909 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.