Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Purchased by Jain Global LLC

Jain Global LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 3,037.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 225,739 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 218,544 shares during the period. Jain Global LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $14,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 231.8% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total transaction of $7,056,430.77. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 80,293 shares in the company, valued at $6,658,698.49. This trade represents a 51.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 37,277 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.85, for a total value of $2,827,460.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $888,506.90. The trade was a 76.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 804,850 shares of company stock worth $63,765,602 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Bank of America increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.6%

NASDAQ IONS opened at $71.19 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.18 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.65. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The firm had revenue of $203.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.66) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.