Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Raised to $106.00 at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays raised its price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95 to $106 and kept an "overweight" rating, implying about a 47.4% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly positive—MarketBeat shows a "Moderate Buy" consensus with an average price target of $90.15, and several firms (e.g., HC Wainwright, Leerink, Piper Sandler) recently raised targets.
• Fundamentals are mixed: Ionis missed EPS estimates (reported a ($1.41) loss vs. ($1.23) expected) though revenue beat ($203.3M vs. $156.1M) and was down 10.6% y/y, while insiders have sold roughly 1,035,882 shares (~$80.5M) in the last 90 days.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Barclays from $95.00 to $106.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's price target would indicate a potential upside of 47.40% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on IONS. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $90.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1%

IONS stock opened at $71.91 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.57. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a current ratio of 3.83. The firm has a market cap of $11.88 billion, a PE ratio of -29.43 and a beta of 0.31.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The business had revenue of $203.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.66) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total value of $7,056,430.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 80,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,658,698.49. This represents a 51.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 54,878 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.35, for a total value of $4,354,569.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,402.85. The trade was a 93.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,035,882 shares of company stock valued at $80,492,247. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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