HC Wainwright Lowers Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target to $100.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target cut by research analysts at HC Wainwright from $115.00 to $100.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price target indicates a potential upside of 72.15% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $58.09 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.32. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a PE ratio of -16.79 and a beta of 0.42. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $50.01 and a 12 month high of $86.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael Hayden bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $53.38 per share, for a total transaction of $800,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,014,220. This represents a 375.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Holly Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total value of $4,466,704.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at $1,648,641.78. This trade represents a 73.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 225,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,711,191 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.