Patrick R. O’neil Sells 1,207 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,819,525.75. The trade was a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $31.85 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.23 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The stock has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of -10.48 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.41 and a 200-day moving average of $38.03. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after buying an additional 3,637,041 shares in the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after buying an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,976,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on IONS shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

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.