Great Lakes Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 53.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 186,950 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212,696 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $12,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 620.2% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 713 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 231.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 9,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.84, for a total value of $697,045.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 66,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,408.64. This trade represents a 12.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 44,034 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.82, for a total transaction of $3,294,623.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 224,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,810,782.06. The trade was a 16.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 277,891 shares of company stock valued at $21,730,823. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on IONS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.45.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.4%

IONS opened at $83.88 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.95 and a 52 week high of $86.15. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $80.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a PE ratio of -49.63 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. The company had revenue of $156.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.75 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 44.26% and a negative net margin of 26.45%.During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current 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.