Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Acquired by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 65,831 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,144 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $3,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HealthInvest Partners AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,226,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,242,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,351,000 after purchasing an additional 43,087 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 183,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,317,000 after buying an additional 78,724 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $9,329,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,728,000 after buying an additional 397,897 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IONS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.67.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.7 %

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $42.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a current ratio of 5.90. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.52 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $325.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.37) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.