Spencer Berthelsen Sells 8,000 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Spencer Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total value of $605,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,805,503.71. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of IONS opened at $75.13 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.81. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.29 and a beta of 0.37. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.78 and a 12-month high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

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.