Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its target price trimmed by Citigroup from $67.00 to $64.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on IONS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $32.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.30. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $30.23 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The firm has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.63 and a beta of 0.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $36.22 per share, with a total value of $181,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. This trade represents a 16.55 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,499,802.80. This trade represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,609 shares of company stock valued at $3,564,867. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other 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.