Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $76.39 and last traded at $76.1280, with a volume of 316970 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on IONS shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The company has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.55 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.61.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The firm had revenue of $157.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph H. Wender sold 11,200 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $841,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 64,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,812,870.60. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 1,680 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.05, for a total transaction of $126,084.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,477,257.85. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 882,150 shares of company stock worth $56,284,410 in the last 90 days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,724,400 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,334 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $57,727,000. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $19,755,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $17,790,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.