Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Sells $256,260.00 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $39.47 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.99 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The firm has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.42 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.62 and a 200 day moving average of $46.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 5.90 and a quick ratio of 5.83.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The business had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.87) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.54.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,856,353 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $59,288,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,399,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,728,000 after purchasing an additional 397,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $18,068,000. 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.