William Blair Has Optimistic Outlook of IONS Q1 Earnings

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) – Investment analysts at William Blair increased their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, March 12th. William Blair analyst M. Minter now anticipates that the company will post earnings per share of ($0.70) for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of ($1.17). William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ current full-year earnings is ($3.50) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ Q2 2026 earnings at ($0.60) EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at ($0.43) EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.39) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($1.11) EPS.

IONS has been the subject of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of IONS stock opened at $32.96 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.71 and a 200-day moving average of $36.79. 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 has a 12-month low of $30.23 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 0.28.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,718,616.95. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. This trade represents a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $116,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $3,762,000. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $20,801,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,349,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,168,000 after purchasing an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 921,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,214,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.