Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 117.46% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.76.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $32.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 580,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,612,561. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of -13.22 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.50. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $30.23 and a 52 week high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 88.98% and a negative net margin of 44.58%. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,229,380.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,718,616.95. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $36.22 per share, with a total value of $181,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. This trade represents a 16.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock valued at $3,564,867. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,976,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. 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.