Strs Ohio Grows Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Strs Ohio boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 659.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,782 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,994 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,434,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,077,000 after purchasing an additional 16,504 shares during the last quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth approximately $547,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.9% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 33,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,529,000 after purchasing an additional 4,357 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 89.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 63,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,753,000 after purchasing an additional 29,886 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 10,602 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.18, for a total value of $839,466.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,759 shares in the company, valued at $1,722,877.62. This represents a 32.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 3,069 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $245,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 61,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,600. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 213,029 shares of company stock worth $16,500,601. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.89. The company had a trading volume of 198,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,063,143. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.55 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.03 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.40. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.