Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Sells $863,681.62 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Allene Diaz sold 10,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total value of $863,681.62. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,535.62. This represents a 72.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 23.9%

Shares of NASDAQ IONS traded down $20.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $64.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,428,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,226,933. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.03 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The firm has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.05 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.51.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on IONS. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.80.

Key Stories Impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Needham & Company cut its price target on Ionis to $86 from $105, but kept a buy rating, implying upside from current levels despite the setback. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity surged, with traders buying far more puts than usual, suggesting investors were hedging for further downside after the trial news.
• Negative Sentiment: AstraZeneca and Ionis reported that the late-stage CARDIO-TTRansform study for eplontersen failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint, a major negative for the partnership and the drug’s future prospects. Business Wire
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters and other outlets reported the trial failure as a broader setback for AstraZeneca-Ionis and highlighted investor concern that the drug missed a key heart-disease goal. Reuters

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.