Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Brett P. Monia Sells 38,843 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total transaction of $1,229,380.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,718,616.95. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $32.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.03 and a 1 year high of $52.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on IONS. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.65.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after acquiring an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,481,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,791,000 after acquiring an additional 38,420 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,384,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,454,000 after acquiring an additional 23,244 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,332,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,376,000 after acquiring an additional 45,300 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 36,084 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.