Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Holly Kordasiewicz Sells 362 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Holly Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total value of $30,516.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,692.80. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 23.9%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $20.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $64.27. The stock had a trading volume of 20,428,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,226,933. The company has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.05 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $76.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.03 and a 52 week high of $86.74. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 15th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup began coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Ionis Pharmaceuticals News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Needham & Company cut its price target on Ionis to $86 from $105, but kept a buy rating, implying upside from current levels despite the setback. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity surged, with traders buying far more puts than usual, suggesting investors were hedging for further downside after the trial news.
• Negative Sentiment: AstraZeneca and Ionis reported that the late-stage CARDIO-TTRansform study for eplontersen failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint, a major negative for the partnership and the drug’s future prospects. Business Wire
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters and other outlets reported the trial failure as a broader setback for AstraZeneca-Ionis and highlighted investor concern that the drug missed a key heart-disease goal. Reuters

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.