Xponance Inc. Acquires 318 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,339 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 12,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 239,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 279,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,761,000 after buying an additional 22,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target 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. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $32.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.62 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.23 and a 52-week high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.98.

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

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,767,331.48. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,499,802.80. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.