Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Patrick O’neil Sells 3,069 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Patrick O’neil sold 3,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $245,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 61,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,917,600. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $79.37 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.72 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.34 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.21 and its 200 day moving average is $77.35.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. Research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jain Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,037.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 225,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,768,000 after acquiring an additional 218,544 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 217,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,238,000 after purchasing an additional 155,334 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 230.4% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 878,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,449,000 after purchasing an additional 612,362 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 28,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DCF Advisers LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.2% during the third quarter. DCF Advisers LLC now owns 108,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,092,000 after purchasing an additional 16,663 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on IONS. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.