William Blair Has Positive Outlook for IONS Q1 Earnings

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) – Investment analysts at William Blair lifted their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report issued on Wednesday, March 12th. William Blair analyst M. Minter now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of ($0.70) for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of ($1.17). William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ current full-year earnings is ($3.50) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ Q2 2026 earnings at ($0.60) EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at ($0.43) EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.39) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($1.11) EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on IONS. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. 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, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $32.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.75 and a 200-day moving average of $36.97. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $30.23 and a one year high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.12 EPS.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total transaction of $291,024.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares in the company, valued at $3,539,706.85. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 worth $3,608,439 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.