Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Up 7% – What’s Next?

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)’s stock price shot up 7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $34.54 and last traded at $34.77. 1,024,178 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 1,450,947 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on IONS. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.24 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.23 and its 200 day moving average is $40.72. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. This trade represents a 16.55 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,293 shares of company stock worth $1,914,820 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 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.