Patrick O'neil Sells 10,473 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Key Points

• Patrick O'neil, EVP of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, sold 10,473 shares at an average price of $64.54, totaling approximately $675,927, which reduced his ownership by 15.49%.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported a significant quarterly revenue increase of 100.9% year-over-year, reaching $452 million, and earnings per share of $0.70, far exceeding the consensus estimate.
• Several analysts upgraded Ionis' stock ratings recently, with target prices increasing, reflecting a generally positive outlook, including a new average price target of $73.88.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) EVP Patrick O'neil sold 10,473 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.54, for a total value of $675,927.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 57,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,687,170.20. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.6%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $65.80. The stock had a trading volume of 2,222,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,947,074. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a PE ratio of -35.76 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $66.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $488,016,000 after buying an additional 2,006,334 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 253.3% in the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,800,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,138,000 after buying an additional 2,724,400 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,891,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,245,000 after buying an additional 48,141 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $57,727,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,160,957 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,869,000 after buying an additional 91,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on IONS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $71.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $43.00 target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $73.88.

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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