Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Monday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on IONS. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $38.44. The company had a trading volume of 1,190,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,319,363. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.25 and a beta of 0.39. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $41.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.02. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,957 shares of the company's stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 16,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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