Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells $458,591.65 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Shannon Devers sold 6,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total transaction of $458,591.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,569.40. This trade represents a 27.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.5%

IONS stock traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $74.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,791,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,327,175. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.93. The company has a quick ratio of 3.81, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The stock has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a PE ratio of -30.65 and a beta of 0.40.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The company had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.66) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on IONS shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.84.

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.