Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells 4,006 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,176,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,160,535. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.32 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.39. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. The stock has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. The company had revenue of $325.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 90.29% and a negative net margin of 46.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 113.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.37) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,242,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,351,000 after acquiring an additional 43,087 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 75.2% during the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 183,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,317,000 after purchasing an additional 78,724 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $9,329,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 113.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 41,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 22,078 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,728,000 after acquiring an additional 397,897 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.08.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.