Analysts Set Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Target Price at $60.00

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.00.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $32.60 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.18 and a 200-day moving average of $37.71. The firm has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.72 and a beta of 0.34. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $234,937.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. This trade represents a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. The trade was a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,816 shares of company stock worth $3,603,914. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,494,000 after acquiring an additional 492,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.