Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Lowered to $86.00 at Needham & Company LLC

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Jul 9th, 2026

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $105.00 to $86.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 33.22% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.10.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 23.6%

NASDAQ:IONS traded down $19.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $64.55. 14,292,831 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,176,979. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $40.03 and a one year high of $86.74. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.51. The company has a market cap of $10.67 billion, a PE ratio of -31.14 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.93) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,465,395.37. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 213,029 shares of company stock valued at $16,500,601. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after buying an additional 5,238,571 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 19,941.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,321,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,314,752 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,753,000 after buying an additional 1,225,043 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7,219.3% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 958,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,727,000 after purchasing an additional 945,729 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,223,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

More Ionis Pharmaceuticals News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

Negative Sentiment: Ionis and AstraZeneca said the CARDIO-TTRansform Phase 3 trial of eplontersen in ATTR-CM did not meet its primary endpoint, weakening expectations for the drug’s future sales potential. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that AstraZeneca and Ionis’ drug failed to reduce cardiovascular deaths and recurrent heart problems in the late-stage study, adding to investor worries about pipeline risk. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted that IONS was headed for its biggest single-day slump in more than five years as traders reacted to the trial miss and reassessed the stock’s near-term outlook. Article Title
Neutral Sentiment: Ionis also saw unusually large options activity, with heavy put buying suggesting traders are hedging for more downside or speculating on continued volatility.
Neutral Sentiment: Some bullish items remain in the background, including recent FDA approval for Tryngolza and completion of enrollment in the pivotal Angelman syndrome study, but these were overshadowed by the trial failure. Article Title

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

(Get Free Report)

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.