Polar Capital Holdings Plc Has $105.49 Million Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 29.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,333,424 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 299,802 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $105,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,238,571 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 19,941.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,321,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,532,000 after buying an additional 1,314,752 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7,219.3% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 958,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,727,000 after buying an additional 945,729 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 190.3% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,771,000 after buying an additional 899,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,223,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the sale, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,465,395.37. This represents a 4.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 directly owned 23,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,782,506.21. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 99,726 shares of company stock valued at $7,353,901. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of IONS stock opened at $73.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $74.89 and its 200-day moving average is $77.65. The stock has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.31 and a beta of 0.37. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.84 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.93) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS 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.