Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Hits New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on IONS. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.97 and a beta of 0.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The business’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total value of $291,024.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,539,706.85. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last ninety days. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 492,900 shares during the period. 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.