Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $84.46, but opened at $67.78. Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $68.4070, with a volume of 4,290,986 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on IONS. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays increased their target price 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. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $76.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.51. The company has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.48 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 3,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $245,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 61,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,917,600. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 10,602 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,722,877.62. This trade represents a 32.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 213,029 shares of company stock worth $16,500,601 over the last quarter. 1.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jain Global LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,037.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 225,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,768,000 after buying an additional 218,544 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 217,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,238,000 after acquiring an additional 155,334 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 230.4% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 878,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,449,000 after acquiring an additional 612,362 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after acquiring an additional 28,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 42,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,354,000 after acquiring an additional 14,455 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.