Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Rating Increased to Outperform at SVB Leerink

SVB Leerink upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. SVB Leerink currently has $62.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $53.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on IONS. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 14th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $60.18.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $51.45 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.28, a current ratio of 7.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of -19.27 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $35.95 and a 52 week high of $54.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.49.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 49.49% and a negative return on equity of 107.64%. The company had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.87) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.