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

Key Points

• Insider sale: Director B. Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares on April 15 at an average price of $76.27 for $381,350 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing her stake by 8.87% to 51,344 shares (≈$3.92M).
• Recent results: The company reported ($1.41) EPS (missing the ($1.23) consensus) while revenue of $203.33M beat estimates, with negative ROE and net margin and analysts projecting about -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.
• Market and analyst view: Ionis trades in the mid-$70s (52‑week range $27.90–$86.74) with a $12.5B market cap, and has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $94.37 (17 Buys, 2 Holds, 1 Sell).

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total value of $381,350.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 51,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,916,006.88. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

B Lynne Parshall also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 11th, B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.72, for a total value of $413,600.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of IONS stock traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $75.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,719,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,068. The company has a market capitalization of $12.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.03 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a current ratio of 3.83. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.90 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $76.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.92.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 $203.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.66) earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on IONS shares. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.37.

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.

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