Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 71.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.68.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $40.85 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 7.61, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after buying an additional 2,856,353 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $18,068,000. Great Point Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $15,728,000. Logos Global Management LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $14,298,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $11,718,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.