Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Brett P. Monia Sells 2,432 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $109,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 179,820 shares in the company, valued at $8,091,900. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $43.03 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $50.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.12. The company has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of -23.39 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 9.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The company’s revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.45) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth 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 last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,334 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth approximately $57,727,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $59,948,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 291.1% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,075,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,451,000 after buying an additional 800,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.79.

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.