Patrick O’neil Sells 3,069 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Patrick O’neil sold 3,069 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $245,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 61,470 shares in the company, valued at $4,917,600. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $79.19 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.35. The stock has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.26 and a beta of 0.36. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.86 and a 52 week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.93) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Leerink Partners lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.90.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.