Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Spencer Berthelsen Sells 8,000 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Spencer Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,465,395.37. This represents a 4.88% 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 1.2%

NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $73.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,801,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,053,600. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $34.84 and a one year high of $86.74. The company has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.31 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.92 and a 200 day moving average of $77.71. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.93) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.90.

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.