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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $100.00 to $85.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 49.33% from the stock’s previous close.

IONS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, HC Wainwright dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.05.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS 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. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $40.03 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a PE ratio of -27.35 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.24.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 3,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $245,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 61,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,600. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 244,038 shares of company stock worth $19,139,399. 1.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jain Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,037.4% during the third quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 225,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,768,000 after acquiring an additional 218,544 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 217,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,238,000 after purchasing an additional 155,334 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 28,259 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 51.7% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 42,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,354,000 after purchasing an additional 14,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,529,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.