Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Given “Outperform” Rating at William Blair

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at William Blair in a research note issued on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on IONS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $35.59 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $33.33 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.91. The company has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.59 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.32.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total value of $45,276.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,278,396.96. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total value of $252,271.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 167,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,369,303.65. This represents a 3.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,877 shares of company stock worth $299,578 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after acquiring an additional 183,814 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 56,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,276,000 after buying an additional 1,529 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 36,084 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $807,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $673,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.