Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Sells 16,800 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Joseph Wender sold 16,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.26, for a total value of $1,230,768.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,511,716.10. The trade was a 18.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.9%

IONS stock traded down $0.65 during trading on Monday, hitting $73.65. 2,576,023 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,967,082. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.58 and a beta of 0.33. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $75.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 26.45%.The firm had revenue of $157.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.05.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.