Richard Geary Sells 1,601 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Richard Geary sold 1,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.01, for a total transaction of $120,091.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,474,871.57. The trade was a 2.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $73.55. 2,332,340 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,971,165. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.52 and a beta of 0.33. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $76.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.35. The business had revenue of $157.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.75 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IONS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.65.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,724,400 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,891,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,245,000 after purchasing an additional 48,141 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth approximately $57,727,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.6% during the second quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,160,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,869,000 after purchasing an additional 91,746 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.