Sunbelt Securities Inc. Purchases New Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856,353 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,288,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $48,399,000. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $18,068,000. Finally, First Turn Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,044,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.9 %

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $47.66 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.55 and a 200 day moving average of $44.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a current ratio of 7.37. The stock has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a PE ratio of -17.85 and a beta of 0.35.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.12. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.87) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.91 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on IONS. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.71% 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.