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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $47.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 36.74% from the company’s current price.

IONS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of IONS opened at $32.91 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.18. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.83 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the company’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 owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,499,802.80. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,819,525.75. This trade represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. 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.