Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Gap Down to $48.33

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $48.33, but opened at $44.49. Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $43.49, with a volume of 3,116,130 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.68.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 7.61. The company has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of -15.93 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $47.88 and its 200 day moving average is $44.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth about $44,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.