Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $38.44. 1,190,342 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,319,363. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $35.95 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.02. 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 has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.25 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. The company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Privium Fund Management B.V. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 250,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after buying an additional 3,477 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,384,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,454,000 after acquiring an additional 23,244 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 17.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 59,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 8,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.