Brett Monia Sells 29,430 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) CEO Brett Monia sold 29,430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.79, for a total transaction of $2,524,799.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,833,297.63. The trade was a 10.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.1%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $84.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.66 billion, a PE ratio of -49.91 and a beta of 0.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $86.74.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after buying an additional 5,238,571 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,724,400 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,158,000 after purchasing an additional 82,560 shares during the period. Tweedy Browne Co LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,798,000 after purchasing an additional 9,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,418,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,476,000 after buying an additional 25,367 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on IONS shares. Leerink Partners raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.