Hsbc Holdings PLC Invests $15.05 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 188,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,047,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,411,038.28. This represents a 16.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. The trade was a 25.21% 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. Insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 in the last 90 days. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on IONS. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.5%

IONS stock opened at $62.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.04 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $42.13 and a 1-year high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current 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.