Citigroup Upgrades Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) to Strong-Buy

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on IONS. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.8%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $73.84 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $32.00 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.58. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.67 and a beta of 0.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 5,812 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.97, for a total transaction of $412,477.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 63,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,273.30. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 6,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total transaction of $458,591.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,210,569.40. This represents a 27.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 616,371 shares of company stock worth $46,406,452 in the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,686,000 after buying an additional 274,310 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 659,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,895,000 after buying an additional 39,794 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 2,991 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.