Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.19. 1,036,048 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,528,993. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.44 and its 200 day moving average is $43.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.55 and a beta of 0.38. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The business had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 2,803 shares of company stock worth $134,402 in the last quarter. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 16,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $668,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 23,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. 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.