Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Makes New Investment in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 113,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total value of $462,698.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,270,004.44. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total transaction of $30,516.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,692.80. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 in the last quarter. 1.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. HC Wainwright decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Leerink Partners upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.0%

IONS opened at $60.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.41. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.71 and a twelve month high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.