Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Invests $2.30 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 29,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 2,140 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 1,810 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,418,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,476,000 after buying an additional 25,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 865 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,782,506.21. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Brian Birchler sold 973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $73,013.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 67,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,065,200. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 751,532 shares of company stock worth $57,680,173. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $75.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a current ratio of 4.10. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.66 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.30 and its 200 day moving average is $77.31. The firm has a market cap of $12.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.37 and a beta of 0.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The company’s revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.93) EPS. Research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

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.