Jupiter Topco LLC Acquires New Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 68,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,408,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 79.1% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 383,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,385,000 after purchasing an additional 169,300 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 318.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 103,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,745,000 after buying an additional 78,470 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $48,690,000. Eagle Health Investments LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $15,428,000. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $37,845,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 225,163 shares of company stock worth $17,711,191 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IONS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $60.36 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $42.13 and a 1 year high of $86.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.03 billion, a PE ratio of -17.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. The company had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current year.

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.