Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Purchased by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 233.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,213 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,161 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,176,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IONS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total transaction of $462,698.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,270,004.44. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,250,089.70. This represents a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $56.55 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.03 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of -27.32 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.