SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. Purchases Shares of 12,600 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,008,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jain Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,037.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 225,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,768,000 after purchasing an additional 218,544 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 217,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,238,000 after buying an additional 155,334 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 161.3% during the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 155,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,192,000 after buying an additional 96,164 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,643,000 after buying an additional 28,259 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 230.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 878,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,449,000 after buying an additional 612,362 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on IONS shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $76.50 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The company has a market capitalization of $12.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.96 and a beta of 0.38. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.00 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.67.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total transaction of $368,483.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,782,506.21. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 51,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,916,006.88. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 616,371 shares of company stock worth $46,406,452 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

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.