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

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on IONS. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.71.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.9 %

IONS traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.19. 1,019,382 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,318,118. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 7.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of -16.06 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.93. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $35.95 and a 1 year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.95) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $134.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.99 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 24,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 9,965 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $630,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $765,000. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 67.4% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 11,210 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $613,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.