Ionis Pharmaceuticals Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:IONS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 5,610 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,252% compared to the average volume of 415 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. HC Wainwright began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. 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 15th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.72.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. The trade was a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 13,242 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.45, for a total value of $429,702.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 219,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,123,618.70. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 63,167 shares of company stock valued at $2,010,458. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 68,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,405,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.4 %

IONS stock opened at $28.51 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.38 and a beta of 0.29.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.