Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,203,481 shares of the company’s stock after selling 298,544 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $718,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $224,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $41.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 7.37, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.97 and a 200-day moving average of $44.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.67 and a beta of 0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business posted ($0.87) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,137.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.