Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Bought by Eversept Partners LP

Eversept Partners LP raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 17.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 632,100 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93,882 shares during the period. Ionis Pharmaceuticals accounts for approximately 2.5% of Eversept Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Eversept Partners LP owned approximately 0.38% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $47,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of IONS. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after buying an additional 28,259 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 51.7% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 42,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,354,000 after acquiring an additional 14,455 shares during the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $1,377,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 19,941.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,321,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,314,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,753,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,043 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on IONS shares. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.90.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total value of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,411,038.28. The trade was a 16.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total transaction of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. The trade was a 73.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $55.96 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.03 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.03 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.31.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS 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.