Jefferies Financial Group Boosts Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target to $96.00

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group has raised its price target for Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $83.00 to $96.00, indicating a potential upside of 67.23% from the stock's previous close, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals has seen a significant increase in trading, with its stock up 34.6% recently, reaching a price of $57.41 per share, compared to a 52-week low of $23.95.
• The company reported an earnings per share of $0.70, exceeding expectations, and had a quarterly revenue of $452 million, up 100.9% year over year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $83.00 to $96.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price would indicate a potential upside of 67.23% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on IONS. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.73.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 34.6%

NASDAQ IONS traded up $14.77 on Tuesday, hitting $57.41. 12,085,306 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,823,042. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $57.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.04 and a beta of 0.28. The company's 50-day moving average price is $42.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.62.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The firm had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $270.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.45) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 9,549 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.80, for a total value 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 represents a 15.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 1,427 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.53, for a total transaction of $60,690.31. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,368 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $781,191.04. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,568 shares of company stock valued at $1,705,296 in the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 231.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 740 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 151.3% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the company's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $60,000. 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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