Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.72, for a total transaction of $413,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 56,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,660,775.68. The trade was a 8.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of IONS traded down $1.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $80.60. The stock had a trading volume of 1,931,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,192,453. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $80.70 and its 200 day moving average is $69.12. The firm has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a PE ratio of -47.69 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.78. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $86.74.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 231.8% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.