Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Joseph Klein III Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.2 %

IONS opened at $40.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.99 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.79 and a 12 month high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.37) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. HealthInvest Partners AB acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,226,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,242,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,351,000 after purchasing an additional 43,087 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 183,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,317,000 after purchasing an additional 78,724 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $9,329,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,728,000 after buying an additional 397,897 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.