Joseph Wender Sells 11,200 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Joseph Wender sold 11,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $841,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 64,035 shares in the company, valued at $4,812,870.60. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of IONS opened at $72.88 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.42. The company has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.12 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $75.49.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $157.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.75 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 26.45%.The company’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.65.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 2,724,400 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,334 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $57,727,000. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $19,755,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $17,790,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.