Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $86.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 46.97% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on IONS. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Leerink Partners increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.20.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:IONS traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $58.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 653,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,408,370. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 7.89 and a quick ratio of 7.73. The company has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.89 and a beta of 0.42. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $50.01 and a one year high of $86.74. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.71 and its 200-day moving average is $70.64.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The company had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Holly Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total value of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,648,641.78. This represents a 73.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Brett Monia sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total value of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 225,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,711,191. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,062,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8,029.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,347,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,609,000 after acquiring an additional 14,170,961 shares in the last quarter. AlphaGrep UK Ltd bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $234,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 171.0% in the second quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 10,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 6,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.