Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells 3,069 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Patrick O’neil sold 3,069 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $245,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 61,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,600. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.6%

IONS stock traded down $1.32 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.37. 2,039,250 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,081,201. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.72 and a 1 year high of $86.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.34. The stock has a market cap of $13.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.34 and a beta of 0.37. 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) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.93) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.90.

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.