Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Cut to $45.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price objective trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $31.49 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $30.23 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $234,937.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 in the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,976,000 after purchasing an additional 18,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $59,948,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.