Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells 4,902 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Kyle Jenne, Ionis EVP, sold 4,902 shares on April 16 at an average of $75.17 for about $368,483 to cover tax withholding from vested equity, leaving him with 23,713 shares (a 17.13% reduction).
• Ionis reported a quarterly EPS of ($1.41) (missing estimates) while revenue beat at $203.33M; the stock trades near $75.7, the market cap is about $12.5B, and analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $94.37 target price.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total transaction of $368,483.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,782,506.21. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Kyle Jenne also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 10th, Kyle Jenne sold 37,277 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.85, for a total transaction of $2,827,460.45.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of IONS traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $75.71. 1,719,444 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,808,068. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.90 and a fifty-two week 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.85 and a 200-day moving average of $76.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.03 and a beta of 0.40.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.66) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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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