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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $47.00 to $45.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

IONS has been the subject of a number of other reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $33.45 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $30.23 and a 52-week high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $32.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.08. The stock has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of -11.00 and a beta of 0.28.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,819,525.75. The trade was a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 in the last ninety days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings 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 valued at $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.