Royal Bank Of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada cut its price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100 to $85, while keeping an outperform rating. The new target still implies about 49% upside from the stock’s current price.
• Other analysts have also recently lowered targets, including Jefferies and Citigroup, though the broader Street view remains constructive with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $96.05 average price target.
• Ionis reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of -$0.56 versus an estimated -$0.85 and revenue of $246.1 million topping forecasts. Even so, the stock was trading around $56.92 and insiders have recently sold shares.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by Royal Bank Of Canada from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 49.33% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $96.05.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock traded down $1.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $56.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 574,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,282,529. The stock has a market cap of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.35 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $40.03 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.78 and a 200-day moving average of $77.24.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Patrick R. O'neil sold 3,069 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $245,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 61,470 shares in the company, valued at $4,917,600. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 10,111 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total value of $863,681.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,811 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $325,535.62. The trade was a 72.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 244,038 shares of company stock valued at $19,139,399 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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