Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells $223,775.94 in Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) EVP Eric Swayze sold 5,631 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.74, for a total transaction of $223,775.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,829.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4 %

IONS stock opened at $40.76 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.53 and a 200-day moving average of $41.83. The company has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -339.64 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 7.52 and a current ratio of 7.59. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.25 and a fifty-two week high of $48.82.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 9th. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.74) by $0.41. The business had revenue of $160.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.48 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 1.18% and a net margin of 0.91%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Finally, SVB Leerink cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.22.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ziegler Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $769,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 355.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 614,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,760,000 after acquiring an additional 479,900 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $844,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 452,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,026,000 after acquiring an additional 112,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $372,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.32% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc engages in the development and commercialization of human therapeutic drugs using antisense technology. It operates through the Ionis Core and Akcea Therapeutics segments. The Ionis Core segment exploits a novel drug discovery platform to generate a pipeline of drugs. The Akcea Therapeutics segment develops and commercializes drugs for cardiometabolic diseases.