Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Kyle Jenne Sells 4,902 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,782,506.21. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Kyle Jenne also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 10th, Kyle Jenne sold 37,277 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.85, for a total value of $2,827,460.45.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ IONS opened at $75.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.03 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.90 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.92. The company has a quick ratio of 3.81, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 68.82% and a negative net margin of 40.36%.The firm had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.66) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on IONS shares. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial started 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.37.

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.