Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases Shares of 10,925 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $866,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $43,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total transaction of $462,698.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,270,004.44. This represents a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total value of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of IONS opened at $63.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.37 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 7.89 and a quick ratio of 7.73. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $41.71 and a one year high of $86.74. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.77.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The business had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.