TD Asset Management Inc Trims Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

TD Asset Management Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 773,184 shares of the company’s stock after selling 187,088 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc owned 0.48% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $61,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,686,000 after purchasing an additional 274,310 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 659,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,895,000 after purchasing an additional 39,794 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on IONS shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 215,048 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $15,569,475.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 92,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,721,036.80. The trade was a 69.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total value of $605,360.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 156,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,805,503.71. This represents a 4.88% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 464,298 shares of company stock valued at $34,319,225. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $74.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.78 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The company has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.98 and a beta of 0.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.