Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Richard Geary Sells 57,900 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Richard Geary sold 57,900 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.24, for a total value of $3,777,396.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 79,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,196,822.68. This represents a 42.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $65.80 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.76 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.09. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $66.25.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The business had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,138,000 after buying an additional 2,724,400 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at $57,727,000. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $19,755,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $17,790,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on IONS. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $43.00 price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.88.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.