Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $70.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a buy rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Leerink Partnrs raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $60.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $40.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $46.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.73. 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 has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856,353 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $18,068,000. Great Point Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,728,000. Logos Global Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $14,298,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth about $11,718,000. Hedge funds and other 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.