International Assets Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

International Assets Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 85.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,217 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,990 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $96,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,176,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.9%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $74.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.86 and a beta of 0.38. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.00 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.54.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.93) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Brian Birchler sold 973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $73,013.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 67,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,065,200. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,782,506.21. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 616,371 shares of company stock valued at $46,406,452 in the last three months. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.