Boone Capital Management LLC Invests $41.23 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Boone Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 519,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,229,000. Ionis Pharmaceuticals comprises 9.6% of Boone Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Boone Capital Management LLC owned about 0.31% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,956,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,408,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth approximately $13,185,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,047,000. Finally, EFG International AG bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,738,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was 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 directly owned 22,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. The trade was a 73.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total value of $1,281,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 75,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,411,038.28. This trade 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Leerink Partners upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $63.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of -18.31 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.62. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.94 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

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 company had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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.