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 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $40.81 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.30. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.32 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.94 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 90.29% and a negative net margin of 46.32%. The company had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.37) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 113.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -4 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.08.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,806,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $566,411,000 after acquiring an additional 605,747 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,678,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,088,000 after purchasing an additional 521,564 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,476,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,872,000 after purchasing an additional 593,051 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,255,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,265,000 after buying an additional 497,077 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.