Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 38,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,066,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total value of $30,516.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,692.80. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $51.60 per share, with a total value of $258,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,238,400. The trade was a 26.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $61.05 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $42.13 and a one year high of $86.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.05 and a 200-day moving average of $71.38. The company has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a PE ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. The company had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.