Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ (IONS) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $70.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 116.54% from the stock’s current price.

IONS has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $32.33 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $30.23 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The stock has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.63 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.91.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.15% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The firm’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,816,632.24. This trade represents a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total value of $1,229,380.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.