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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,870,000 shares, a decline of 6.3% from the September 30th total of 10,530,000 shares. Currently, 6.8% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on IONS. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Leerink Partners upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $38.39. 910,035 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,322,721. The company has a current ratio of 7.61, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. The business's 50-day moving average price is $41.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.04. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $35.95 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.38 and a beta of 0.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. The company had revenue of $225.00 million for 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%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 85,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,104,384. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,803 shares of company stock worth $134,402. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 2,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

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.