Insider Selling: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• C Frank Bennett, Executive Vice President of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, sold 6,000 shares on September 5th at an average price of $59.60, totaling $357,600, reducing his ownership by 6.77%.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals' stock increased by 5.6% during trading on Tuesday, reaching $64.40, with a notable trading volume of 4,258,819 shares.
• A number of analysts have recently raised their price targets for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, with Citigroup setting a new target of $84.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) EVP C Frank Bennett sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.60, for a total value of $357,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 82,679 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,668.40. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

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

• On Tuesday, September 2nd, C Frank Bennett sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.14, for a total value of $245,700.00.
• On Wednesday, September 3rd, C Frank Bennett sold 33,909 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $2,055,563.58.
• On Monday, August 18th, C Frank Bennett sold 10,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.98, for a total value of $439,800.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 5.6%

Shares of IONS traded up $3.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $64.40. The stock had a trading volume of 4,258,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,113,898. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $64.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.00 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The company had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $270.90 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 231.8% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 740 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 45.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $67.88.

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.

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