Q3 EPS Estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals Lowered by Analyst

Key Points

• HC Wainwright lowered its Q3 2027 EPS estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals to $0.04 from $0.05, while keeping a Buy rating and a $125 price target.
• Other analysts have also trimmed price targets after recent developments, but the stock still carries a Moderate Buy consensus and a $96.80 average target.
• Ionis recently reported quarterly results that beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, but the shares remain under pressure amid weak sentiment and a major Phase 3 trial miss for its partnered drug with AstraZeneca.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) - Equities researchers at HC Wainwright cut their Q3 2027 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report issued on Friday, July 10th. HC Wainwright analyst M. Kapoor now expects that the company will earn $0.04 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.05. HC Wainwright has a "Buy" rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals' current full-year earnings is ($3.73) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals' Q4 2027 earnings at $0.21 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on IONS. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $96.80.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $58.25 on Monday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $75.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.24. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $40.03 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The company has a market cap of $9.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.14 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.93) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company's stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company's stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company's stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total value of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,790,566.89. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total transaction of $462,698.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,270,004.44. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 244,038 shares of company stock valued at $19,139,399 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Ionis and AstraZeneca disclosed that the Phase 3 CARDIO-TTRansform trial for eplontersen in ATTR-CM failed to hit its main efficacy goal, a major setback for a key partnered drug. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that the AstraZeneca-Ionis heart drug also missed its main goal of reducing cardiovascular deaths and recurrent heart problems, reinforcing investor concerns about the program. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders, including an executive vice president and a director, disclosed stock sales under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, adding to near-term caution.
• Negative Sentiment: Traders bought an unusually large number of put options, suggesting some market participants are positioning for further downside.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts cut price targets on IONS, but most kept Buy/Overweight ratings, indicating valuation confidence even after the setback. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright, Morgan Stanley, Canaccord Genuity, and Needham all lowered targets, with Needham trimming its target to $86 from $105 while maintaining a Buy rating. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Ionis updated FY2026 revenue guidance to $875 million-$900 million, roughly in line with expectations, which does little to offset the clinical disappointment.

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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