HC Wainwright Issues Positive Outlook for IONS Earnings

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) – HC Wainwright upped their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, March 2nd. HC Wainwright analyst M. Kapoor now expects that the company will post earnings of ($0.81) per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of ($0.98). HC Wainwright currently has a “Buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ current full-year earnings is ($3.50) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ Q2 2026 earnings at ($0.82) EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at ($0.80) EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.84) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($3.27) EPS.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $203.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.07 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 68.82% and a negative net margin of 40.36%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.66) EPS.

IONS has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS opened at $78.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a current ratio of 3.83. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The firm has a market cap of $12.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.24 and a beta of 0.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.31 and its 200-day moving average is $72.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 12,922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.22, for a total value of $971,992.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 126,307 shares in the company, valued at $9,500,812.54. This trade represents a 9.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 62,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.72, for a total transaction of $5,208,878.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 283,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,486,441.44. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 436,579 shares of company stock worth $35,367,233 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at $2,340,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 66.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 862,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,431,000 after buying an additional 343,409 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,790,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,669.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 312,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,430,000 after buying an additional 294,643 shares during the period. Finally, Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $10,650,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by 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.