Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Sells 16,990 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC reduced its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 61.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,845 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,990 shares during the quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,856,353 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,275,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,518,000 after acquiring an additional 33,012 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,288,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 956,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,407,000 after acquiring an additional 58,000 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 12.2% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 571,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,786,000 after acquiring an additional 62,230 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.4 %

IONS opened at $47.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.86 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.90 and a 200 day moving average of $43.89.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The business had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on IONS shares. Bank of America raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Leerink Partners raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 can be accessed through this link. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.