6,800 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Purchased by PSP Research LLC

PSP Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000. Ionis Pharmaceuticals makes up 0.5% of PSP Research LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 608.4% during the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 5,812 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.97, for a total transaction of $412,477.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 63,890 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,273.30. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 6,193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total value of $458,591.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,569.40. This represents a 27.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 616,371 shares of company stock worth $46,406,452. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $73.84 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.00 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.58. The company has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.67 and a beta of 0.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm had revenue of $246.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.