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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total value of $458,591.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS opened at $74.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.81. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The company has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.65 and a beta of 0.40.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.66) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,420,918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,238,571 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,724,400 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,158,000 after purchasing an additional 82,560 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,370,000 after buying an additional 258,155 shares during the period. Finally, Tweedy Browne Co LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,798,000 after purchasing an additional 9,268 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on IONS. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.