Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Sells 2,432 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $109,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 179,820 shares in the company, valued at $8,091,900. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $43.03 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of -23.39 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 9.62. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $50.43.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business’s revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.45) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $59,948,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 3,146 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,976,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IONS. Barclays upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.79.

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.