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

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

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $31.49 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.95. 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 market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million for 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%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,816,632.24. The trade was a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total value of $1,229,380.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at $5,718,616.95. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last 90 days. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 94.8% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 1,301 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after acquiring an additional 114,914 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 308,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,376,000 after acquiring an additional 34,097 shares during the last quarter. 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.