Clearbridge Investments LLC Lowers Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 51.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,160,270 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,305,921 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $102,958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the 1st 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. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of IONS stock opened at $39.38 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.69. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.95 and a twelve month high of $54.44. The company has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.75 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 7.61, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on IONS shares. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.56.

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.