Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Outperform Rating from William Blair

William Blair restated their outperform rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) in a research note released on Friday,RTT News reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ FY2028 earnings at $2.07 EPS.

IONS has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $35.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of -14.60 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $37.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $33.33 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,278,396.96. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total transaction of $252,271.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 167,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,369,303.65. The trade was a 3.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,877 shares of company stock valued at $299,578 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Great Point Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $15,728,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after buying an additional 114,914 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $2,429,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 650,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,070,000 after acquiring an additional 77,909 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.