Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Short Interest Down 6.3% in October

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,870,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the September 30th total of 10,530,000 shares. Approximately 6.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 2,803 shares of company stock valued at $134,402 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 24,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 9,965 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $630,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $765,000. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 67.4% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 11,210 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $613,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of IONS stock traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.58. 66,616 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,318,723. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.07. The company has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The company’s revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on IONS shares. Leerink Partners raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.28.

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.