Brokerages Set Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target at $60.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.00.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on IONS shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O'neil sold 6,165 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 111,816 shares of company stock valued at $3,603,914. Insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company's stock worth $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $1.84 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $33.19. 2,008,896 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,670,240. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a PE ratio of -10.92 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.78.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.12 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.