PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,994 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,952,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $5,617,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after buying an additional 128,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,807,000 after buying an additional 114,914 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was purchased 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $32.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.77 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.44. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business 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 quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.