Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $84.46, but opened at $67.78. Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $68.4070, with a volume of 4,290,986 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on IONS shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The stock has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of -32.48 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,790,566.89. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the sale, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at $11,465,395.37. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 213,029 shares of company stock worth $16,500,601. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes 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 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.