Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from 21 analysts, with 18 Buy ratings, two Holds, and one Sell. The average 12-month price target is $96.80.
• The stock dropped 9.4% in Friday trading to $58.25, well below its recent moving averages. Despite the pullback, the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue up 86.4% year over year.
• Recent news has been weighed down by a major setback: the Phase 3 CARDIO-TTRansform trial for eplontersen failed to meet its main efficacy goal. Several analysts have lowered price targets, even though many still maintain Buy or Overweight ratings.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $96.80.

IONS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Leerink Partners raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O'neil sold 3,069 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $245,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 61,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,917,600. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total value of $462,698.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,270,004.44. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 244,038 shares of company stock valued at $19,139,399 in the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company's stock worth $1,420,918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,238,571 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $249,158,000 after buying an additional 82,560 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company's stock valued at $236,370,000 after buying an additional 258,155 shares in the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company's stock worth $189,798,000 after buying an additional 9,268 shares during the period. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company's stock worth $141,753,000 after buying an additional 1,225,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 9.4%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $6.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $58.25. The stock had a trading volume of 11,439,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,922,914. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a PE ratio of -28.14 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $40.03 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.93) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Ionis and AstraZeneca disclosed that the Phase 3 CARDIO-TTRansform trial for eplontersen in ATTR-CM failed to hit its main efficacy goal, a major setback for a key partnered drug. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that the AstraZeneca-Ionis heart drug also missed its main goal of reducing cardiovascular deaths and recurrent heart problems, reinforcing investor concerns about the program. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders, including an executive vice president and a director, disclosed stock sales under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, adding to near-term caution.
• Negative Sentiment: Traders bought an unusually large number of put options, suggesting some market participants are positioning for further downside.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts cut price targets on IONS, but most kept Buy/Overweight ratings, indicating valuation confidence even after the setback. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright, Morgan Stanley, Canaccord Genuity, and Needham all lowered targets, with Needham trimming its target to $86 from $105 while maintaining a Buy rating. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Ionis updated FY2026 revenue guidance to $875 million-$900 million, roughly in line with expectations, which does little to offset the clinical disappointment.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.

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