JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Key Points

• JPMorgan lowered its Ionis Pharmaceuticals price target from $76 to $70 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying roughly 55.9% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive: Ionis has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $90.50 average price target, despite mixed recent target revisions from other firms.
• Ionis shares opened at $44.90, near their 52-week low of $44.20, while insiders have sold approximately $12.7 million of stock over the past three months.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $76.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price would indicate a potential upside of 55.90% from the company's previous close.

IONS has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $90.50.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $44.90 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $55.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.07. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $44.20 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The company has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.98 and a beta of 0.42.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,114 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 10,602 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.18, for a total value of $839,466.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,759 shares in the company, valued at $1,722,877.62. The trade was a 32.76% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 156,317 shares of company stock worth $12,656,566. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company's stock worth $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company's stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the company's stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the company's stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company that discovers and develops medicines using antisense technology, which is designed to target RNA and influence the production of disease-related proteins. The company focuses on neurological, cardiovascular, metabolic and other serious diseases for which there remains a significant unmet medical need.

Ionis has developed several approved therapies, including SPINRAZA (nusinersen) for spinal muscular atrophy, QALSODY (tofersen) for a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, TEGSEDI (inotersen) for hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis and WAYLIVRA (volanesorsen) for familial chylomicronemia syndrome in certain markets.

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