Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells 680 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Brian Birchler sold 680 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total transaction of $19,291.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,607,444.20. This trade represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $28.40. The company had a trading volume of 842,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,516,198. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.34 and a beta of 0.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,722.5% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 3,066 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 31st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.72.

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.