Aigen Investment Management LP Has $620,000 Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 52.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,723 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,111 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after acquiring an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,481,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,791,000 after acquiring an additional 38,420 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,384,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,454,000 after acquiring an additional 23,244 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,332,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,376,000 after buying an additional 45,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 36,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total transaction of $194,937.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,816,632.24. This represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,632.18. The trade was a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,816 shares of company stock valued at $3,603,914 over the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $34.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.31 and a beta of 0.34. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.49.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The firm had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.