Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Sold by Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 87.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,311 shares of the company’s stock after selling 242,480 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $39.07 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.71. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.63 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 7.61. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. The company had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.