Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells $2,107,300.00 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $81.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.03 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The company has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.52 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.90.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.