Richard Geary Sells 33,038 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Richard Geary sold 33,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.72, for a total value of $2,501,637.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 59,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,517,228.04. This represents a 35.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $73.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.24. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $76.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a PE ratio of -43.52 and a beta of 0.33.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $157.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.75 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IONS. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $59.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.65.

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.