Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Brian Birchler Sells 680 Shares

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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of IONS stock opened at $28.40 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.34 and a beta of 0.29.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during 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. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $98,494,000 after acquiring an additional 492,900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.