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

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

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on IONS. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $33.45 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.00 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $30.23 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47.

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

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,718,616.95. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,416,781 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. 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.