Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Raised to $68.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Bank of America from $67.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 34.36% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on IONS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. 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 report on Friday, June 14th. 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 report on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.13.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 5.8 %

Shares of IONS stock traded up $2.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $50.61. 1,791,670 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,655,248. The firm has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of -18.95 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $35.95 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The company has a quick ratio of 7.28, a current ratio of 7.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.49 and a 200 day moving average of $44.46.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $119.00 million for 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%. The company’s revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.87) EPS. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $276,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $9,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 271.3% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 6,782 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 352.3% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 12,928 shares during the period. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.