JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $48.00 to $49.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.92.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.0%

IONS stock opened at $41.82 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.73 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 2.87. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $50.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.22.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The firm had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total transaction of $209,650.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 86,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. The trade was a 5.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 10,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total transaction of $428,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 89,492 shares in the company, valued at $3,835,627.12. The trade was a 10.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,141 shares of company stock worth $1,644,606. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% in the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after buying an additional 2,724,400 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,016,000 after buying an additional 2,006,334 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $57,727,000. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.