Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Ionis Pharmaceuticals has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with price targets ranging from $55.00 to $64.00.
• The company reported a 100.9% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue, earning $452 million and surpassing consensus estimates of $270.90 million.
• Insider trading activity revealed that both the CEO and a director sold shares recently, with the CEO selling 2,432 shares and the director selling 5,000 shares, indicating a 1.33% and 5.47% decrease in their respective positions.

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $59.3846.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on IONS shares. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS stock opened at $42.81 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average is $41.08 and its 200-day moving average is $34.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.27 and a beta of 0.25. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $23.95 and a twelve month high of $50.43.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $109,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 179,820 shares in the company, valued at $8,091,900. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total transaction of $209,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 86,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,141 shares of company stock worth $1,644,606 over the last 90 days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,724,400 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock worth $488,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,334 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $57,727,000. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

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.

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