Q3 EPS Estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals Lowered by Analyst

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) – Analysts at HC Wainwright cut their Q3 2027 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note issued on Friday, July 10th. HC Wainwright analyst M. Kapoor now anticipates that the company will earn $0.04 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.05. HC Wainwright currently has a “Buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ current full-year earnings is ($3.73) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ Q4 2027 earnings at $0.21 EPS.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm’s revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.80.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS opened at $58.25 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $9.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.14 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.24. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $40.03 and a 12-month high of $86.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at $1,648,641.78. The trade was a 73.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 10,602 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.18, for a total transaction of $839,466.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 21,759 shares in the company, valued at $1,722,877.62. This trade represents a 32.76% 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 244,038 shares of company stock valued at $19,139,399. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,420,918,000 after buying an additional 5,238,571 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,158,000 after acquiring an additional 82,560 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,370,000 after acquiring an additional 258,155 shares during the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,798,000 after acquiring an additional 9,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,753,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,043 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals News Summary

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

• Negative Sentiment: Ionis and AstraZeneca disclosed that the Phase 3 CARDIO-TTRansform trial for eplontersen in ATTR-CM failed to hit its main efficacy goal, a major setback for a key partnered drug. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that the AstraZeneca-Ionis heart drug also missed its main goal of reducing cardiovascular deaths and recurrent heart problems, reinforcing investor concerns about the program. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders, including an executive vice president and a director, disclosed stock sales under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, adding to near-term caution.
• Negative Sentiment: Traders bought an unusually large number of put options, suggesting some market participants are positioning for further downside.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts cut price targets on IONS, but most kept Buy/Overweight ratings, indicating valuation confidence even after the setback. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright, Morgan Stanley, Canaccord Genuity, and Needham all lowered targets, with Needham trimming its target to $86 from $105 while maintaining a Buy rating. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Ionis updated FY2026 revenue guidance to $875 million-$900 million, roughly in line with expectations, which does little to offset the clinical disappointment.

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.