West Michigan Advisors LLC Takes Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

West Michigan Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 38,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,039,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $231,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,372.7% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 88,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,002,000 after buying an additional 82,500 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 608.4% during the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,038,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the sale, the director owned 51,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,916,006.88. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,782,506.21. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 864,155 shares of company stock valued at $67,020,422. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $74.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $12.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.67 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 3.81, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.79 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.07 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.66) EPS. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -4.15 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on IONS. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.