Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells $3,777,396.00 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Richard Geary sold 57,900 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.24, for a total value of $3,777,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 79,657 shares in the company, valued at $5,196,822.68. This trade represents a 42.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $69.15 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $69.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.58 and a beta of 0.33. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.58.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The business had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.45) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 237,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,397,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 123.2% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 5,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, Marex Group plc purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,294,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

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.