Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells $763,637.00 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Patrick O’neil sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.25, for a total transaction of $763,637.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 62,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,681,377.75. This represents a 14.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $71.19 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.81, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The firm has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.18 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.51 and a 200-day moving average of $74.21. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.95 and a 12-month high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The firm had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.66) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,184.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 216,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,122,000 after purchasing an additional 209,848 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $228,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 147,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,639,000 after buying an additional 13,312 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

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.