37,500 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Purchased by DCF Advisers LLC

DCF Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,973,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,420,918,000 after buying an additional 5,238,571 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,158,000 after acquiring an additional 82,560 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,370,000 after acquiring an additional 258,155 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,753,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,043 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,975,000 after acquiring an additional 21,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on IONS. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays cut their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,692.80. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was bought at an average price of $51.60 per share, with a total value of $258,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,238,400. This trade represents a 26.32% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $60.80 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.71 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.57 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 released 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. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The company had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict 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.