Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Raised to $65.00 at Piper Sandler

Key Points

• Piper Sandler raised its price target for Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 49.10% at the current stock price.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported a 100.9% year-over-year increase in revenue, reaching $452 million while exceeding analysts' estimates significantly.
• Institutional investors hold a substantial 93.86% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals' stock, reflecting strong interest from large financial entities.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by Piper Sandler from $62.00 to $65.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler's price objective indicates a potential upside of 49.10% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on IONS. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.46.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS opened at $43.5950 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.70 and a beta of 0.25. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $23.95 and a twelve month high of $50.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business's revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total value of $209,650.00. Following the sale, the director owned 86,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,620,403.92. This trade represents a 5.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 9,549 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.80, for a total transaction of $408,697.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,204,499.60. This trade represents a 15.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,141 shares of company stock worth $1,644,606. 2.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,411 shares of the company's stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 45.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.8% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,989 shares of the company's stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,135 shares of the company's stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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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