EFG International AG Buys Shares of 122,804 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

EFG International AG purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 122,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,738,000. EFG International AG owned 0.07% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $176,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,640,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth approximately $23,722,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $9,569,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 77.5% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 206,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,401,000 after buying an additional 90,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. 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, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,411,038.28. This represents a 16.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IONS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $63.57 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.71 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The stock has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.37 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.77.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share 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.