Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Allene Diaz Sells 54,878 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Director Allene Diaz sold 54,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.35, for a total value of $4,354,569.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,402.85. This represents a 93.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.7%

IONS stock traded down $0.52 on Friday, reaching $74.64. 199,254 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,265,190. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.91. The company has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.59 and a beta of 0.31. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.81.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 68.82% and a negative net margin of 40.36%.The company had revenue of $203.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.07 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.66) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on IONS shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Leerink Partners raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

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.