State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 63,206 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,431 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% during the third quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.31, for a total value of $44,167.77. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,017 shares in the company, valued at $1,551,429.27. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 1,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.44, for a total transaction of $49,406.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,584,620. This trade represents a 1.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IONS. StockNews.com cut shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $32.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a PE ratio of -10.63 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 111.15%. The company’s revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS 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.