StockNews.com Upgrades Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) to Sell

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) to a sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on IONS. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.56.

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Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $32.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,999,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,419,707. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.62 and a 200 day moving average of $36.26. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.83 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

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, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,275,632.18. This trade represents a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick R. O'neil sold 1,207 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,819,525.75. This trade represents a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 133,902 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,681,000 after buying an additional 7,722 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $116,000. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,762,000. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,801,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,349,211 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,168,000 after buying an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.