Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Acquired by Inceptionr LLC

Inceptionr LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 134.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,850 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,229 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $73.32 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.78 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.12 billion, a PE ratio of -35.42 and a beta of 0.37. 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 (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,916,006.88. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 6,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total value of $458,591.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,569.40. The trade was a 27.47% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 256,100 shares of company stock valued at $18,613,444 over the last three months. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.