T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 30.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,108,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,048,910 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $720,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $74.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.81 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s 50 day moving average is $74.89 and its 200 day moving average is $77.53. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.45 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.93) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the sale, the director owned 51,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,916,006.88. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total value of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at $1,648,641.78. This trade represents a 73.04% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 93,914 shares of company stock worth $6,941,424. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Leerink Partners increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.80.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.