Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Has $2.84 Million Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lessened its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 79.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 59,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 228,900 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,875 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS stock opened at $46.80 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.92. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.95 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a current ratio of 7.37 and a quick ratio of 7.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a PE ratio of -17.53 and a beta of 0.40.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 109.65% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.35 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.9 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on IONS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Leerink Partners upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.71% 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.