JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target to $47.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its target price lowered by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $51.00 to $47.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential upside of 47.63% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.84. 292,344 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,645,182. The firm has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of -10.47 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $30.23 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.23.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at $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 111,816 shares of company stock worth $3,603,914 in the last quarter. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.