Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.65.

IONS has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $31.90 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $31.40 and a one year high of $52.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 8.91 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The firm has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.07 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.14 and its 200-day moving average is $40.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,278,396.96. This represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,632.18. The trade was a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,293 shares of company stock worth $1,914,820 in the last ninety days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,807,000 after buying an additional 114,914 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,384,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,454,000 after acquiring an additional 23,244 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,332,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,376,000 after acquiring an additional 45,300 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 36,084 shares in the last quarter. 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.