Brian Birchler Sells 973 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock

Key Points

  • Kyle Jenne, Ionis's EVP, sold 4,902 shares on April 16 at an average price of $75.17 for about $368,483, reducing his position by 17.13% to 23,713 shares; the sale was disclosed as being to cover tax withholding from equity vesting and follows a March 10 sale of 37,277 shares.
  • Ionis missed EPS expectations (‑$1.41 vs. est. ‑$1.23) while reporting revenue of $203.33M (above the $156.07M estimate) but down 10.6% YoY; the stock trades around $75.7 with a market cap near $12.5B and a negative P/E of about ‑31.
  • Wall Street sentiment is largely positive with a consensus “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.37, and institutional ownership is very high at 93.86% after several large funds boosted their stakes.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) EVP Brian Birchler sold 973 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $73,013.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 67,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,065,200. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Brian Birchler also recently made the following trade(s):

  • On Friday, January 30th, Brian Birchler sold 6,179 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.03, for a total value of $513,042.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $75.71 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.90 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The firm has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a PE ratio of -31.03 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a current ratio of 3.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $76.85 and a 200-day moving average of $76.92.




Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.66) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.37.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on IONS

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

(Get Free Report)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company's proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis' pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.

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