Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target reduced by Citigroup from $67.00 to $64.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 96.74% from the company’s current price.

IONS has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. 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 research note on Thursday. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $32.53. 1,620,687 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,644,421. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.35 and a beta of 0.34. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $30.23 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.82 and a 200-day moving average of $38.50.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced 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 net margin of 44.58% and a negative return on equity of 88.98%. The company 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 company posted $0.12 EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares in the company, valued at $1,816,632.24. This trade represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,767,331.48. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. 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.