Citigroup Lowers Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target to $64.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $67.00 to $64.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on IONS. 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $32.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.40 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.46. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 88.98% and a negative net margin of 44.58%. The firm had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares in the company, valued at $1,816,632.24. The trade was a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $116,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,762,000. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $20,801,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,349,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,168,000 after purchasing an additional 16,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 921,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,214,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by 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.