Brokerages Set Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Target Price at $83.05

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, seventeen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $83.65.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 33,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $2,055,563.58. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 101,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,157,173.40. The trade was a 25.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 76,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.97, for a total transaction of $4,685,544.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,785.35. The trade was a 93.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 882,150 shares of company stock worth $56,284,410 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,016,000 after buying an additional 2,006,334 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,724,400 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,891,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,245,000 after acquiring an additional 48,141 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $57,727,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,160,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,869,000 after purchasing an additional 91,746 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.8%

IONS opened at $74.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 2.87. The company has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a PE ratio of -43.85 and a beta of 0.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $66.49 and its 200-day moving average is $47.79. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $76.78.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 26.45%.The firm had revenue of $157.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.