Eric Swayze Sells 5,631 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) EVP Eric Swayze sold 5,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.74, for a total value of $223,775.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,829.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $40.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.80. The company has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -339.64 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 7.59, a quick ratio of 7.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.25 and a 1 year high of $48.82.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,056,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,375,000 after acquiring an additional 705,586 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,806,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,411,000 after purchasing an additional 605,747 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,476,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,872,000 after purchasing an additional 593,051 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 125.1% during the 3rd quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,872,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,077,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,877,000 after purchasing an additional 481,205 shares in the last quarter. 87.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $56.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th. SVB Leerink decreased their target price 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. Citigroup increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.22.

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.