Wall Street Zen Downgrades Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) to Hold

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on IONS. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.05.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $74.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $75.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.53. The company has a market capitalization of $11.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.96 and a beta of 0.33.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The company had revenue of $157.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 49,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $3,249,948.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 110,500 shares in the company, valued at $7,211,230. This trade represents a 31.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 33,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $2,055,563.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,570 shares in the company, valued at $6,157,173.40. This trade represents a 25.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 787,770 shares of company stock worth $48,429,221. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,724,400 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,016,000 after buying an additional 2,006,334 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $57,727,000. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $19,755,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $17,790,000. 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.