Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target decreased by equities researchers at Citigroup from $67.00 to $64.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 97.98% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on IONS. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.1 %

IONS stock opened at $32.33 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.63 and a beta of 0.34. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $30.23 and a 12 month high of $52.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 8.91 and a quick ratio of 8.82.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 111.15%. The firm’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.31, for a total value of $44,167.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 48,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,551,429.27. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,609 shares of company stock valued at $3,564,867. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after acquiring an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 128,619 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 222.5% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 16,508 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,807,000 after buying an additional 114,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 650,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,070,000 after buying an additional 77,909 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.