Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

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

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Leerink Partners raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partnrs raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $60.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.6 %

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $40.85 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $46.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.73. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. The stock has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $35.95 and a twelve month high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The business had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.35 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 956,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,407,000 after acquiring an additional 58,000 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $297,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 63,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,195,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 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.