Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) stock jumped 1.14% on Thursday to $43.64 against a previous-day closing price of $43.15. With 1.4 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.95 million shares. During the session, the Biotechnology company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $44.51 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $43.33. The 52-week range on IONS shows that it touched its highest point at $48.57 and its lowest point at $32.69 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $49.63. Beta for the stock currently stands at 0.50.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of IONS was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 8.07%, but this was up by 9.10% over a month. Three-month performance surged to 6.91% while six-month performance rose 27.64%. The stock lost -5.64% in the past year, while it has gained 15.54% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for IONS yields -2.17 with Next year EPS estimates of -3.59. For the next quarter, that number is -1.06. This implies an EPS growth rate of -837.70% for this year and -3.50% for next year.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 143.10 million IONS shares are outstanding with a float of 142.23 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 30, 2023, short shares totaled 9.29 million, which was 6.48% higher than short shares on Jul 30, 2023. In addition to Dr. Brett P. Monia Ph.D. as the firm’s Founder, CEO & Director, Ms. Elizabeth L. Hougen M.A., M.B.A., M.S. serves as its Exec. VP of Fin. & CFO.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 95.00% of IONS’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 59.99% of IONS, in contrast to 35.78% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 1.13%. As the largest shareholder in IONS with 15.00% of the stake, Fidelity Management & Research Co holds 21,463,816 shares worth 21,463,816. A second-largest stockholder of IONS, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 14,315,253 shares, controlling over 10.00% of the firm’s shares. T. Rowe Price Investment Manageme is the third largest shareholder in IONS, holding 13,083,727 shares or 9.14% stake. With a 6.50% stake in IONS, the BB Biotech AG is the largest stakeholder. A total of 9,299,700 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Fidelity Growth Company Fund, which owns about 4.81% of IONS stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 6,881,825 shares valued at 285.11 million. T Rowe Price Mid Cap Growth Fund holds 3.32% of the stake in IONS, owning 4,746,200 shares worth 196.64 million.
An Overview of Recent Financials:
Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Jun 29, 2023, IONS reported revenue of $133.79M and operating income of -$85.51M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was -$94.06M and diluted EPS was -$0.74.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for IONS since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With IONS analysts setting a high price target of $88.00 and a low target of $25.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $50.48. Based on these targets, IONS could surge 101.65% to reach the target high and fall by -42.71% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 15.67% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded IONS stock several times over the past three months with 16 Buys and 3 Sells. In these transactions, 66,353 shares were bought while 22,862 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 46 while that of sell transactions has risen to 30 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 352,471 while 155,199 shares were sold.
