Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 169,300 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 79.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 383,211 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 169,300 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $30,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on IONS. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.65.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $55.42 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.37 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The company has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.02 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.41. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 in the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.