Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 275,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.17% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $8,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,637,041 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,801,000. Orbimed Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,494,000 after purchasing an additional 492,900 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 660.7% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 500,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 434,659 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 79.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 774,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,067,000 after acquiring an additional 343,492 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $109,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 179,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,091,900. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total transaction of $209,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 86,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,141 shares of company stock valued at $1,204,806. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $43.78 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $50.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.76. The company has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.79 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The company had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.45) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.38.

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.