TD Cowen Cuts Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target to $108.00

Key Points

• TD Cowen lowered its price target on Ionis from $110 to $108 but kept a "buy" rating, implying roughly a 44.75% upside from the prior close.
• Ionis missed Q earnings with EPS of ($1.41) versus ($1.23) expected, though revenue of $203.33M beat estimates despite a 10.6% YoY decline; sell-side analysts forecast about -4.15 EPS for the fiscal year.
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently—directors and the CEO sold large blocks—and insiders dumped 864,155 shares (~$67.0M) over the past three months, while insiders retain about 2.6% ownership.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by analysts at TD Cowen from $110.00 to $108.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. TD Cowen's price target indicates a potential upside of 44.75% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on IONS. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.35.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.3%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $74.61. The stock had a trading volume of 352,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,164,240. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.32 billion, a PE ratio of -30.59 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $28.79 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $76.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a current ratio of 3.83.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 68.82% and a negative net margin of 40.36%.The firm had revenue of $203.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.66) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 54,878 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.35, for a total transaction of $4,354,569.30. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,811 shares of the company's stock, valued at $302,402.85. This trade represents a 93.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 126,670 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.20, for a total value of $9,525,584.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 242,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,248,182.40. The trade was a 34.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 864,155 shares of company stock valued at $67,020,422 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $38,000. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.