Sector Gamma AS Purchases 25,000 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Sector Gamma AS lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 235,842 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the quarter. Ionis Pharmaceuticals comprises approximately 2.8% of Sector Gamma AS’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Sector Gamma AS’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $8,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $32.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of -10.77 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.23 and a 1 year high of $52.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The business’s revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $36.22 per share, with a total value of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,632.18. This represents a 16.55 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. The trade was a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.