Granite Investment Partners LLC Sells 25,253 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Granite Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 36.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 43,181 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,253 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2,280.5% during the 1st quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 41,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $243,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 129,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 3,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 11.1% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 446,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,500,000 after acquiring an additional 44,696 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on IONS shares. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price target (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $81.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.11 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.95 and a 12-month high of $82.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 26.45%.The firm had revenue of $156.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Brian Birchler sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.17, for a total transaction of $609,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 48,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,719,076.42. The trade was a 14.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 33,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.72, for a total transaction of $2,501,637.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,517,228.04. This represents a 35.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 505,566 shares of company stock worth $35,304,952 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.