Swiss National Bank Boosts Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 288,600 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $11,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $215,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,488,000. Exome Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 121.0% during the 1st quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC now owns 135,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,092,000 after acquiring an additional 74,249 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 148,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,486,000 after acquiring an additional 43,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $226,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 33,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $2,055,563.58. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,570 shares in the company, valued at $6,157,173.40. The trade was a 25.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 89,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total transaction of $6,703,492.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,657 shares in the company, valued at $4,480,837.27. This trade represents a 59.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 930,139 shares of company stock valued at $60,372,435. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $82.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of -48.96 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $82.95.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.