Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $62.43, but opened at $60.62. Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $61.26, with a volume of 175,378 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $63.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.46. The firm has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The firm had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $51.60 per share, with a total value of $258,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,238,400. This trade represents a 26.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.6% in the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth approximately $1,062,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8,029.6% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,347,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,609,000 after purchasing an additional 14,170,961 shares during the period. AlphaGrep UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 171.0% during the 2nd quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 10,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 6,577 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.