Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) EVP Sells $826,544.25 in Stock

Key Points

• Brian Birchler, EVP of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, sold 11,475 shares of stock for approximately $826,544.25, representing a 16.80% decrease in his ownership.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported a 100.9% year-over-year increase in revenue during its last quarter, amounting to $452 million, while EPS exceeded analyst estimates by $0.51.
• Wall Street analysts have given Ionis Pharmaceuticals a Moderate Buy average rating, with target prices ranging from $65.00 to $96.00 based on recent broker reports.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) EVP Brian Birchler sold 11,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total transaction of $826,544.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 56,826 shares in the company, valued at $4,093,176.78. This trade represents a 16.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Brian Birchler also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, October 15th, Brian Birchler sold 12,425 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $897,457.75.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS traded up $0.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $73.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,739,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,206,730. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.97. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $74.42. The company has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.71 and a beta of 0.33.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business's revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IONS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $83.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock worth $488,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,891,095 shares of the company's stock worth $114,245,000 after acquiring an additional 48,141 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $57,727,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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