Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Sold by Legato Capital Management LLC

Legato Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 64.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,155 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,145 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 608.4% during the fourth quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 54,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.35, for a total transaction of $4,354,569.30. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $302,402.85. The trade was a 93.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.23, for a total value of $6,741,601.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 80,554 shares in the company, valued at $6,382,293.42. This trade represents a 51.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 616,371 shares of company stock valued at $46,406,452 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $76.07 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.75 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.00 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.