Eugene Schneider Sells 26,000 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. The trade was a 25.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $79.19 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.86 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $75.30 and its 200-day moving average is $77.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.26 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.90.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Jain Global LLC lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,037.4% during the third quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 225,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,768,000 after acquiring an additional 218,544 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 217,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,238,000 after purchasing an additional 155,334 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 230.4% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 878,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,449,000 after purchasing an additional 612,362 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 28,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DCF Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. DCF Advisers LLC now owns 108,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,092,000 after purchasing an additional 16,663 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.