Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Makes New $866,000 Investment in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $866,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after buying an additional 5,238,571 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,158,000 after acquiring an additional 82,560 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,370,000 after acquiring an additional 258,155 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,975,000 after purchasing an additional 21,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $53.38 per share, with a total value of $800,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,014,220. This represents a 375.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. The trade was a 25.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $63.57 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.71 and a 1 year high of $86.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.77. The company has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.37 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The firm had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current year.

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.