Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $62.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $55.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 44.09% from the stock’s previous close.

IONS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.79.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $43.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of -23.39 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 9.62 and a current ratio of 2.87. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $50.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.12.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business’s revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.45) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $109,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 179,820 shares in the company, valued at $8,091,900. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 45.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 151.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $60,000. 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.