Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $60.07.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $47.82 on Tuesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a current ratio of 7.37. The firm has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.91 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.57.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.42 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 49.49% and a negative return on equity of 107.64%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.87) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $29,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $44,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.