Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Gap Up to $41.83

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $41.83, but opened at $43.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $42.46, with a volume of 620,164 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on IONS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wolfe Research raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.43.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.0 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.90. The company has a quick ratio of 7.28, a current ratio of 7.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.42 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 49.49% and a negative return on equity of 107.64%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.87) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $698,137.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total transaction of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856,353 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $59,288,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,399,000. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $18,068,000. Finally, First Turn Management LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $18,044,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.