Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Short Interest Update

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,670,000 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the February 29th total of 9,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.1 days. Approximately 7.2% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total value of $428,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 38,170 shares in the company, valued at $2,042,095. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.50, for a total transaction of $428,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 38,170 shares in the company, valued at $2,042,095. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Onaiza Cadoret-Manier sold 5,564 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.42, for a total transaction of $280,536.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,704,700.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,734 shares of company stock worth $5,152,226 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.65% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,242,307 shares of the company's stock worth $56,351,000 after buying an additional 43,087 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 183,349 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,317,000 after purchasing an additional 78,724 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $9,329,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 113.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 41,571 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 22,078 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,728,000 after purchasing an additional 397,897 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $43.00. The stock had a trading volume of 906,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,036. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $34.32 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of -16.80 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $46.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.51.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $0.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The business had revenue of $325.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.37) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.92 EPS for the current year.

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.