Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Cut to $85.00 by Analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its target price dropped by Canaccord Genuity Group from $95.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 46.32% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $58.09 on Tuesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $50.01 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89. The company has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.79 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C. Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total transaction of $462,698.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,270,004.44. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Allene Diaz sold 10,111 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total value of $863,681.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,535.62. This represents a 72.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 225,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,711,191 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 79.1% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 383,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,385,000 after buying an additional 169,300 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 318.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 103,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,745,000 after buying an additional 78,470 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $48,690,000. Perceptive Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $37,845,000. Finally, Eagle Health Investments LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $15,428,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.