Empowered Funds LLC Has $7.75 Million Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 318.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,141 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 78,470 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.06% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $7,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Capital World Investors increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,238,571 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,158,000 after buying an additional 82,560 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,370,000 after buying an additional 258,155 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,753,000 after buying an additional 1,225,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,975,000 after buying an additional 21,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Key Ionis Pharmaceuticals News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Ionis beat Wall Street’s second-quarter revenue and earnings expectations, helped by commercial growth despite difficult year-over-year comparisons. Management also reaffirmed its 2026 outlook, supporting confidence in the company’s operating trajectory. Zacks Q2 earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Director Michael R. Hayden bought 15,000 shares for approximately $800,700 on July 30 and another 5,000 shares for $258,000 on July 31. The purchases materially increased his ownership and may be viewed as a signal of confidence in Ionis’s valuation and prospects. SEC insider-trading filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo lowered its price target from $100 to $95 while maintaining an “overweight” rating. The reduced target reflects more cautious valuation expectations, but the rating remains bullish. Benzinga analyst report
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright cut its target from $125 to $115 but retained a “buy” rating, similarly indicating lower near-term valuation expectations while maintaining a positive view of the stock. StreetInsider analyst report
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Ionis investors. Although the announcement does not establish wrongdoing, it adds legal and reputational uncertainty and may weigh on sentiment. Pomerantz investor alert

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,411,038.28. This represents a 16.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total value of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. This represents a 73.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 in the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on IONS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.85.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $51.77 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 quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 7.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.96 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.