Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $86.74 and last traded at $85.4380, with a volume of 74952 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.6%

The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of -41.06 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. The trade was a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 213,029 shares of company stock worth $16,500,601. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,686,000 after purchasing an additional 274,310 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 659,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,895,000 after purchasing an additional 39,794 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 2,991 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.