Allene Diaz Sells 10,111 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Allene Diaz sold 10,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total transaction of $863,681.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,811 shares in the company, valued at $325,535.62. This trade represents a 72.63% decrease in their position. The transaction 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

IONS traded down $20.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $64.27. 20,428,096 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,226,933. The company has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a PE ratio of -31.05 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.03 and a 1 year high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Capital World Investors raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,420,918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,238,571 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,370,000 after acquiring an additional 258,155 shares during the period. Tweedy Browne Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,798,000 after acquiring an additional 9,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,043 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Needham & Company cut its price target on Ionis to $86 from $105, but kept a buy rating, implying upside from current levels despite the setback. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity surged, with traders buying far more puts than usual, suggesting investors were hedging for further downside after the trial news.
• Negative Sentiment: AstraZeneca and Ionis reported that the late-stage CARDIO-TTRansform study for eplontersen failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint, a major negative for the partnership and the drug’s future prospects. Business Wire
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters and other outlets reported the trial failure as a broader setback for AstraZeneca-Ionis and highlighted investor concern that the drug missed a key heart-disease goal. Reuters

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.