Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $29.61 and last traded at $30.09, with a volume of 96038 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on IONS. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.97 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.52.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total value of $1,229,380.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. The trade was a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 over the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during 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 during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,494,000 after purchasing 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.