Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Given New $53.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $50.00 to $53.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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 upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $58.64.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of IONS stock opened at $47.23 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The firm has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of -17.69 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.41 and a 200-day moving average of $44.89. The company has a quick ratio of 7.28, a current ratio of 7.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.42 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 107.64% and a negative net margin of 49.49%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.87) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.95 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total transaction of $256,260.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.