Richard Geary Sells 89,249 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Richard Geary sold 89,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total value of $6,703,492.39. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,480,837.27. This trade represents a 59.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $72.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The company has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a PE ratio of -43.12 and a beta of 0.33. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $75.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.42.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on IONS shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $83.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.65.

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.