Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP C Frank Bennett Sells 85,089 Shares

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.23, for a total value of $6,741,601.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 80,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,382,293.42. This represents a 51.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

C Frank Bennett also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, February 2nd, C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total value of $7,056,430.77.
• On Friday, January 30th, C Frank Bennett sold 5,885 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.95, for a total transaction of $488,160.75.
• On Friday, January 30th, C Frank Bennett sold 5,885 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.95, for a total transaction of $488,160.75.
• On Friday, January 16th, C Frank Bennett sold 8,977 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.15, for a total transaction of $674,621.55.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of IONS stock traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.64. 199,254 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,265,190. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $81.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.91. The company has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a PE ratio of -30.59 and a beta of 0.31.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $156.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.66) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the 4th 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. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,138,000 after buying an additional 2,724,400 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,158,000 after buying an additional 82,560 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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. Finally, Tweedy Browne Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,798,000 after acquiring an additional 9,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.00.

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.