JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target cut by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $47.00 to $45.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 39.45% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $32.27 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.62 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.98. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total transaction of $1,229,380.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,976,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $59,948,000. 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.