BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd Invests $1.53 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 23,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,529,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. CWM LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $71.19 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.81. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.18 and a beta of 0.31.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $203.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.07 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 68.82% and a negative net margin of 40.36%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.66) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 37,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.85, for a total value of $2,827,460.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $888,506.90. This represents a 76.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 20,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total value of $1,596,416.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,789,755.40. This trade represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 804,850 shares of company stock worth $63,765,602 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

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.