Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Key Points

• Bank of America raised its price target on Ionis from $100 to $111 and kept a "buy" rating, implying roughly a 45.9% upside from the prior close.
• Ionis missed EPS (-$1.41 vs. -$1.23 expected) but beat revenue ($203.3M vs. $156.1M), with revenue down 10.6% year-over-year and the company still unprofitable (negative margins, P/E shown as -31.2).
• Insiders sold about 974,413 shares (~$75.3M) in the last quarter while institutional investors own ~93.9% of the stock; analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with a $93.58 target.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Bank of America from $100.00 to $111.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Bank of America's price target suggests a potential upside of 45.90% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on IONS. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.58.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.5%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $76.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 264,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,248,475. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.81. The stock has a market cap of $12.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.20 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $25.74 and a 12 month high of $86.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 37,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.85, for a total value of $2,827,460.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,714 shares of the company's stock, valued at $888,506.90. This represents a 76.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 215,048 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $15,569,475.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,721,036.80. The trade was a 69.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 974,413 shares of company stock valued at $75,333,995 over the last quarter. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,726 shares of the company's stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,184.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 216,438 shares of the company's stock worth $17,122,000 after purchasing an additional 209,848 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,554 shares of the company's stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,891 shares of the company's stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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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