Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 17.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 114,772 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,967 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $7,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $27,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 620.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 151.3% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.1%

IONS stock opened at $76.33 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.78. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $86.15. The firm has a market cap of $12.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.17 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 44.26%. The business had revenue of $156.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on IONS. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $49.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 33,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.72, for a total transaction of $2,501,637.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 59,657 shares in the company, valued at $4,517,228.04. This represents a 35.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 44,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.08, for a total value of $3,760,450.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,494 shares in the company, valued at $1,488,389.52. The trade was a 71.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 274,007 shares of company stock worth $21,370,455. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.