StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. SVB Securities reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. SVB Leerink reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $27.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $46.45.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5 %

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $35.18 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $31.46 and a 12 month high of $48.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $38.02 and its 200-day moving average is $40.93. The company has a quick ratio of 7.00, a current ratio of 7.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.06) by $0.69. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a negative net margin of 45.75%. The company had revenue of $152.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 65.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $671,640. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $671,640. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.59, for a total value of $84,386.61. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,064,382.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,022 shares of company stock worth $2,961,208. Insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Heritage Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 87.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc engages in the development and commercialization of human therapeutic drugs using antisense technology. It operates through the Ionis Core segment. The Ionis Core segment exploits a novel drug discovery platform to generate a pipeline of drugs. The company was founded by Stanley T.