Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Raised to $122.00

Key Points

• Leerink Partners raised its price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals to $122 from $114 and kept an outperform rating, implying roughly 64% upside from the current share price.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of -$0.56 versus an expected -$0.85 and revenue of $246.09 million versus the $195.57 million consensus, driven by 86.4% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on IONS, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target of $101.80, while institutional ownership remains high at 93.86% despite recent insider selling.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by analysts at Leerink Partners from $114.00 to $122.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Leerink Partners' target price would indicate a potential upside of 64.16% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on IONS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $101.80.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $1.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $74.32. 165,357 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,036,678. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $36.11 and a one year high of $86.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.90 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 51,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,916,006.88. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at $11,465,395.37. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 99,726 shares of company stock worth $7,353,901 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 318.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 103,141 shares of the company's stock worth $7,745,000 after purchasing an additional 78,470 shares in the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,980,000. Perceptive Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,845,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.5% during the first quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 824,540 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,915,000 after buying an additional 57,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stempoint Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,981,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

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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