Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 14,224 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,224 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $4,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at $151,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,722.5% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 3,066 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.8% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,786.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 28,247 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 133,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,681,000 after buying an additional 7,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of IONS opened at $42.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.37 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a current ratio of 9.66 and a quick ratio of 9.62. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $52.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.14.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $132.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.31 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 91.85% and a negative net margin of 63.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.98) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.25.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $31.86 per share, for a total transaction of $477,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 50,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,599,977.34. The trade was a 42.59% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.