Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $743,000 Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 5.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,589 shares of the company’s stock after selling 985 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 24,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after buying an additional 9,965 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $630,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58,000 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $765,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 260,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,189,000 after purchasing an additional 31,025 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $40.99 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.75. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of -15.35 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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 owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.68.

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.