Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers cut its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 191,893 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,049 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $6,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after buying an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after acquiring an additional 114,914 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,384,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,454,000 after acquiring an additional 23,244 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,332,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,376,000 after acquiring an additional 45,300 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 36,084 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. The trade was a 16.55 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total value of $1,229,380.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,718,616.95. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,816 shares of company stock valued at $3,603,914 over the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IONS. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $31.76 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.45 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.23 and a 52-week high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

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.