Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $30.17 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $29.61 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.92 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.63. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The company’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,767,331.48. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total transaction of $291,024.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,539,706.85. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,976,000 after purchasing an additional 18,890 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,948,000. 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.