AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC Sells 21,677 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,770 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,677 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Heritage Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. 87.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $35.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 7.07, a quick ratio of 7.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.41. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.46 and a 1-year high of $48.82. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.75 and a beta of 0.57.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.06) by $0.69. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a negative net margin of 45.75%. The firm had revenue of $152.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.21 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 65.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.81 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IONS. Citigroup increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, SVB Leerink decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $671,640. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 5,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.74, for a total value of $223,775.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,829.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 74,022 shares of company stock worth $2,961,208 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

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Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc engages in the development and commercialization of human therapeutic drugs using antisense technology. It operates through the Ionis Core segment. The Ionis Core segment exploits a novel drug discovery platform to generate a pipeline of drugs. The company was founded by Stanley T.